WATCHING AND WAITING
by azurefang
Summary: Damon is depressed and at a loss since Elena's death. Stefan tries to help. I know this is not the only story dealing with this subject, so I will try to make it different somehow. (Damon, Stefan, Elijah OC )
1. Chapter 1

WATCHING AND WAITING

 _A/N I have been trying to come up with a new story, but I was having trouble deciding what to write about. This one takes place after Elena has died and is in her coffin. Damon is depressed and at a loss. I know this is not the only story dealing with this subject, so I will try to make it different somehow. Damon, Stefan, Elijah, others._

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries does not belong to me. Original characters, such as Mrs. Flowers, are mine.

He sat there, drink in hand, by the coffin, watching, waiting. She looked so natural, just asleep. Not really asleep, dead, but not totally dead. Some day she would wake up, way in the future, he assumed. But could he wait? He wasn't good at waiting, biding his time. Too much inactivity and he became restless. That wasn't good because a bored, restless Damon Salvatore could easily feel the need to do something. Hunt, perhaps. Random sex. Feed. Kill.

She wouldn't want him to turn off the caring part of his humanity, even though she had done it herself after the loss of her brother Jeremy. She wouldn't want him to do that just because he had lost her. She would feel guilty and responsible. Was she able to feel that now? Could she somehow sense his frame of mind, his grief? His anger at the turn of events? Did she somehow know he was sitting there staring at her and remembering their time together? Did her spirit watch him, as unable to come to him as he was to rouse her from her death sleep?

It was his fault. He had had possession of the vial that would turn a vampire back into a human. He had known she wanted to be human again, and he had influenced her to drink the liquid. Disaster had struck. Of course it had. Disasters followed Damon Salvatore. As a result, his best buddy Ric had held his bride Jo in his arms as she died. And Elena had lain on the floor with fatal injuries, unable to heal because she was no longer a vampire.

Humans were fragile, so fragile. It didn't take much to damage them or take the life from them. They had such a slow, often inadequate, ability to heal. Human medicine worked wonders, but it was still limited. Elena had wanted to be a doctor and to help heal people. Well, no medical school for her now. No medical miracles for her.

They had made sure that she was not embalmed at the funeral home. No embalming. No autopsy. That could have been disastrous. A vampire couldn't wake up if full of embalming fluid or if organs like the heart or brain were removed and not put back. Elena wasn't a vampire anymore, but she was expected to come alive again at some future date. She had everything she had died with, except the animation of life.

What about healing? Her fatal injury didn't show as she lay there, but what about when she awoke? Would she just die again because the injury was still there? And what if he was somewhere else in the world at that time? What if he didn't find out that Bonnie had died and Elena had come alive again?

Although pale, she looked natural. So lovely in a girl-next-door way. She had been so full of life, feisty, serious, but quick to laugh. She had lived a life of danger these last few years, but she had faced it head-on, aggressively. She could also be gentle and loving. They had spent a summer of love together and he would always have the memory of that.

He could bring her back; this very day he could do it. But he wouldn't. It would mean killing Bonnie and he couldn't do that. As long as Bonnie lived, Elena would lie in the coffin. Elena would never forgive him if he killed Bonnie, the person he had very mixed feelings about. Witches didn't like vampires. Witch Bonnie tolerated Damon for the most part, when she wasn't despising him. He found her to be an annoying young woman, but he also admired her. She was like Elena in spirit, one tough cookie.

He heard a noise behind him and knew someone had come into the space of the Salvatore mausoleum. It was his brother Stefan; he could feel that it was he without looking. His brother came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on home and get something to eat," Stefan said.

"I'm not hungry."

"I brought a girl."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I didn't think you would go for anything less. But I'd rather you didn't kill her."

"I can't guarantee that. I feel so damned despondent, but I'm also angry."

"I know. Come on. Give it a try."

"Where is she? Surely not at the house where Mrs. Flowers can see what happens." He looked around and sensed the woman was not outside nearby.

"In the basement. I got her from Charlottesville so she's not on vervain. She's under compulsion right now. Come on and eat before that wears off."

"It won't wear off if you did it right."

"I did," Stefan said patiently. "Come on."

"Look at her, Stefan. So perfect. So natural." Elena's white hands lay together on her dress on her abdomen. Her long, dark hair, parted in the middle, was arranged to lie on each of her shoulders. "Do you think her hair will grow as the years go by?"

"I don't know."

"Will she age? Mother hasn't aged."

"Mother's a vampire."

"And a witch."

"And a dangerous woman. An obsessed woman," Stefan said with a snort.

"Does this place seem clean enough?" the older brother asked, looking around.

"It's the cleanest it's been in over a century. It's been scrubbed and the marble polished. The cracks sealed. The stained glass in the windows has been replaced. It's a perfect place for her to be resting," Stefan said, looking around.

Neither Stefan nor Damon had to study the engraving on the various marble inlaid stones to know what they said. Lillian Salvatore, Giuseppe Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore. The only person actually buried there was Giuseppe, the husband and father. The other three still walked the face of the earth.

"Come on, Damon. She'll be here. She'll wait for you to return," Stefan murmured, his hand still on his brother's shoulder. He could feel tense muscles under his hand.

With a sigh, Damon stood up from the folding chair he had been sitting on. He picked up the empty bottle of bourbon and his glass and turned to the exit. Trudging out to the dim light of a cloudy, rainy day, he didn't wait for Stefan, who closed the entrance.

The mausoleum was set in the old cemetery of Mystic Falls, the one on the hill west of town where the old Fell's church ruins remained. The burying ground, once kept neat and mowed, had long overgrown with trees that were now mature. The church had been burned down over a hundred years ago and when old Rev. Fell had died, no other member of the family had become a minister. No other minister took his place. The general feeling in town was that the place where the church ruins remained was haunted. No one rebuilt the church, and a new church and a new cemetery had been established elsewhere, leaving the old one to revert to woods and, for the most part, many plots to be poorly maintained.

But it was there that the remains of Giuseppe Salvatore lay and now Elena Gilbert in her expensive, open casket. Damon glanced back at the mausoleum and had to admit it looked better than it had in a very long time – clean and bright, even in the dreary light. He hoped no ghost of Giuseppe remained to annoy the young woman or to even gaze upon her. He had nothing but hatred for the man he had called "Father," but it was his love of Elena that gave him a heartwarming feeling about the place.

Both Damon's and Stefan's cars were parked in the cleared area seldom used. The brothers drove to the Salvatore house, rather large because it had been a boarding house a long time ago, and parked in the driveway. They entered the front door and went to the hidden panel that gave way to stairs leading to the basement, a large area under a large house. Although it was used for storage and for the big furnace and water heaters, it also housed two cells for captives and a food freezer used just to keep bags of blood bank blood cool.

Damon went to the closed door of one of the cells and looked through the barred window to the inside. The recessed light in the ceiling was on and it showed a young woman with dark blonde hair sitting on the stone ledge that served as a bed. She looked at him, a worried, confused expression on her face.

Stefan opened the door and spoke to her. "It's alright, Gwen. Damon is my brother and he needs to sip some of your blood. He won't hurt you. Don't be afraid."

To Damon, he muttered, "Drink, but don't rip her throat. Okay?"

Damon only grunted as he walked into the cell and to the woman. "Stand up, my dear," he ordered in a calm voice. He watched her as she stood before him. She was slender and almost as tall as he was. The decorated tanktop she was wearing left her neck well-exposed. He was quite hungry and was well-aware that he would feel some sort of sexual connection to her when he took her blood. Fresh, hot arterial blood was exquisite and gave something akin to a drug rush. He was ready for that.

Barely having control over his desire, he resisted grabbing her, sinking his fangs into her neck and ripping open the blood vessels. Instead, as his fangs came down and his face underwent some changes, he took her by the shoulders and leaned close. The sound of her heart beating and the smell of the blood within her caused his own heart to pound and saliva to pool in his mouth. Unable to resist longer, he drove in the fangs through her pale skin, catching the carotid artery at the side of the neck. Blood spurted into his mouth and he moaned with pleasure. Held by his strong hands, the girl groaned. She didn't try to pull away, but stood there as her blood pulsed into Damon's mouth. In a short time, she began to feel faint and to sag in his grip.

Damon made himself stop, knowing that Stefan was standing by, watching, and would be angry if the girl died. He knew the saliva on his fangs was enough to seal the artery punctures. Licking the skin wounds to stop the bleeding there, the older brother laid the girl down on the bed and stood back.

"You satisfied? I didn't rip her neck or let her died," he said with a snarky tone.

"You did good," Stefan had to agree. "I was afraid you would lose control."

"Who,me?" Damon said with a snort. He turned and walked out of the cell.

 _A/N What do you think? Does this story have potential?_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Both brothers left the basement cell with Stefan closing the door and locking it. Damon said nothing, but he approved of the idea of keeping the girl. She would recover from her faint and if she was given plenty to eat and drink, she would be able to give up more blood.

Up in the main hallway, Damon went into the study to pour himself a drink. Stefan followed him, but had to pour his own drink.

"Did that help? The girl?" the younger brother asked. He stood by the bar and watched Damon go to stare into the fireplace while sipping his drink. Almost always there was a fire going because Damon insisted. Mrs. Flowers, who managed the house, ordered cords of wood and saw that the fire kept going. Of course, she also had to clean out the ashes, since Damon didn't do it and Stefan rarely did so.

"For now. It did nothing to help with the loss."

"I know that," Stefan said, sipping his own drink. "Time will help."

"I don't need you quoting trite words of wisdom. Give it a rest." Taking his glass, he walked from the room and to the stairs. He could have zipped up the stairs in a flash, but he chose to trudge up them as if his feet were too heavy to move.

On the second floor, he walked past his room at the front of the house and went to the bedroom Elena had used occasionally when she stayed at the house. The place had become her permanent residence after she had set fire to her own house after her brother Jeremy had died. That is, after the second time he had died. Or was it the third? Hard to keep track. He had come back. It didn't matter to Damon now. All that mattered was that Elena had died – again, not for the first time. And sometime in the future, she would come back.

He sat down on the bed, neatly made with clean sheets and a comforter. Elena was in college now, pre-med. She wanted to be a doctor, to help sick people and perhaps to prevent sickness. She'd been working in the hospital after classes, often with Jo, the physician and friend who had been mentoring her. Well, both of them were dead now. No more classes. No more mentoring.

Damon leaned down and sniffed at the bedding. There was no scent of Elena. The bedding had all been laundered. If he had known that she would never come to this bed or to his own again, he would have asked Mrs. Flowers never to wash the sheets and pillow cases. How long would the scent of his beloved have remained in the fabric?

 _Mrs. Flowers will strip this bed now and then and remake it, waiting for its occupant to return. She'll be long-dead before Elena ever sleeps in the bed again,_ he thought _. By then, someone else will be appointed by the Salvatore Trust to become manager of the house, keeping it in good repair even if we Salvatore brothers move away, move on with our lives. We always do._

The truth was that he didn't know what he wanted to do. Elena, what was left of her, was here in Mystic Falls. He wanted to be able to see her whenever he felt the need. Then again, doing that just put his life on hold, putting him in a self-made trap. It would be like constantly picking at a sore so that it never healed. Not that he ever had sores to pick at. Being a vampire meant his wounds healed quickly and disappeared without a scar. If he intended to pick at scabs, he had to do it quickly.

But there were emotional scabs. Emotional scars. These he had plenty of and he was not above picking at them from time to time and feeling sorry for himself. Or feeling old anger and resentments. The only ways to stop that were to become engrossed in some pursuit, or to find happiness, like with Elena, or to turn off his humanity – what he called the feelings humans felt in their daily lives, both the good and the bad, the happiness and the sadness. There were joy, laughter or grief or the emotional pain of things that had happened to them or the guilt of having done or not done something. If he turned that off, he could still feel pleasure, pride in himself, ego, or the satisfaction of murderous revenge if someone did something wrong to him. He could enjoy life and do what he wanted without guilt or shame. But also without feeling love.

Quite a few vampires lived that way and he certainly had done so from time to time. So had Stefan, who was much less likely to turn off his feelings, who was afraid because of the chance he would revert to his savage "ripper" ways. That had happened more than once and he hated it after he turned his humanity back on. The guilt weighed heavily on him. Good ole compassionate Stefan. Except when he was a vicious murderer.

 _What does Stefan really feel now that Elena is lying in a coffin?_ Damon wondered _. He has been in love with the girl since he laid eyes on her. How much has the love lessoned as it became obvious that she loved me instead? Has it really lessened at all?_

It was hard for Damon to tell, and besides, he had been overjoyed to have Elena to himself. Willing to start a new life elsewhere, Stefan had left Mystic Falls, leaving Elena to Damon. Twice. But the twisted life of the strange small town had brought Stefan back for one reason or another. Damon himself had been stuck in a prison world with Bonnie, of all people, for a while, but he had returned. He and Stefan were gluttons for punishment, as the saying went. He knew he and his brother should get away from Mystic Falls as they had several times before. But here they were. Emotionally stuck in a bad-luck place.

The urge to get more blood from the girl in the cellar returned. In fact, it was more than that. As he sat on Elena's bed and envisioned her lovely body sprawled there in sleep, he also saw her in his own bed, often sprawled underneath him. He now felt aroused. He could go to the young woman in the cellar and have some fun with her. He could close his eyes and pretend she was Elena. Theoretically, she was compelled to cooperate. It didn't matter. He could take her if she complied or not.

He left the bedroom, headed for the stairs and this time zipped down in a flash. He went to the cellar door and in a moment was in the corridor outside the cell. He stopped and stared. The door stood open and the girl was gone! Frustrated and furious, he slammed the heavy door shut. She hadn't escaped; Stefan had taken her away. Stefan had probably anticipated Damon's change of heart, that he would break his promise not to hurt the girl. _Damn you, little brother!_ Damon thought.

Back up the stairs he went and he slammed the hall door, too. As he considered going to the front door to see if Stefan's car was gone, he spotted Mrs. Flowers eyeing him from the kitchen door. She looked wary, as she should. He had never harmed the woman, but that didn't mean he couldn't in a fit of rage. She was an average human woman living in a house with vampires. She certainly knew there was danger, but she had courage.

While he was standing there in the hall, almost trembling with rage and frustration, and meeting the steady stare of the woman, he was startled by the ringing of the front doorbell. He didn't move and neither did Mrs. Flowers. The bell rang again. Damon turned to the door, in a mood to bite whoever was out there.

Growling to himself, he opened the door and glared at the person outside. It was not Bonnie or Caroline or Ric. It was Elijah Mikaelson, standing there with his usual serious demeanor and impeccable suit.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon said in surprise, but putting a smirk on his face.

"I came to see Elena," the older vampire said evenly. He was reading the tone of Damon's voice, the angry squint of his eyes, the tension in his stance.

"She's dead."

"So I heard. I also know she is not permanently dead. Am I correct?"

"You're always correct, Elijah," Damon said with a snort.

"I would like to see her. You are aware that I have always admired her."

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Are you willing to show her to me or do I have to find her on my own? I have no doubt it would take little time to do so, but I thought it proper to come to you first."

"You know if we are keeping her casket here in this house, you can't come in."

Elijah looked at him with intense, dark eyes. "Damon, I did not come up here to Virginia from New Orleans to cause trouble. May I see her?"

Damon's anger over the woman being gone from the cell was abating. He didn't hate this Original vampire. They were almost friends, if one could be a friend of any of the Mikaelsons. Elijah was probably the best of them. Damon made a decision and called back down the hall.

"Mrs. Flowers, come here. Please."

Since she had not left the kitchen doorway, she could see down the hall to the front door and she knew who was there. She knew who Elijah was. Wary, she came along the long hall to the foyer.

"Yes, Damon?" she asked, looking from him, inside the front doorway, to Elijah outside.

"Invite Elijah in."

She looked from Damon's face to Elijah's and hesitated. The two men knew she was wondering if Elijah was compelling Damon.

"It's okay, Theo," Damon said, using her first name, which was actually Theophilia. "Elijah is something of a friend, despite being a Mikaelson. I'd like to talk to him in the study where we can have a drink."

Deciding that the request was what Damon really wanted, the woman politely said, "Please come in."

"Thank you, madam," the Original said with a polite nod. When Damon and Mrs. Flowers stepped back, he walked in. He had been in the house before in years past because Elena had held the lease to the house briefly and she had invited him in. The group in the house at that time had invited him to dinner. They had also acquired one of the special daggers that could immobilize him and they had used it. For her own reasons, Elena had removed it. His invitation had been rescinded as soon as she had given up her lease.

When Damon moved into the study, Elijah followed. He tried to sense if Elena's body was in the house, but he couldn't. It was a big house.

"What can I get you," the younger vampire asked as he moved to the bar. He then poured what was requested, plus some more of his excellent quality bourbon. Finding his guest still standing, left hand in trouser pocket, he muttered, "Don't stand on formalities, Elijah. Sit down."

The handsome Original glanced at the sofa and a chair and chose the leather chair. He took the drink Damon held out to him. He sipped it, nodded slightly and looked up at Damon.

"I know what was on the news, but there were few details. There was a wedding and some type of explosion. The bride and some others were killed, several injured. The report said that Elena was one of those killed. It is not entirely true, is it?"

"No. And yes. She lies in her coffin as your mother did, not dead, but not alive either, probably for many years to come." Damon sat down on the sofa and propped his boots on the big coffee table.

"What happened?"

Damon sipped his drink and then told Elijah about the wedding that was supposed to be a very happy day for pregnant Jo and for his good buddy Alaric. He explained how it had ended in tragedy because of the power and cruelty of her very evil brother Kai.

"He wounded Bonnie so that I had to make a choice," he said with memories full of both sadness and hatred. "I could save Bonnie and doom Elena to years of suspended animation or let Bonnie die so that Elena would wake up. I reacted in a way he didn't anticipate. He thought I was walking away from the whole scene, but I circled back and took his damned head off! It's him who is dead dead. And I saved Bonnie, of course. She and I have been through a lot together. Elena would never forgive me if I had let Bonnie die. It would have haunted me, too."

He also explained that Elena had taken the cure for vampirism, making her human and vulnerable. She was also vulnerable because her blood was now a cure for vampirism. He didn't mention that to Elijah, although he knew Elijah might realize the truth.

"I knew she wouldn't live a long time, Elijah. I mean as a human. But she wanted so badly to have the life she couldn't."

"The same is true of Rebekah," Elijah said, nodding. His sister was now in a unique position of having it both ways, but he didn't explain.

"I planned to take some of her blood so that I too would become human. You would not believe the arguments Stefan put up against that."

"I can imagine some points he might have made."

"It's moot now. I didn't take any blood before she was killed." He emptied his small glass and got up to refill it. He then held the glass up in the air and looked at the fluid in it. "Stefan said I would become a serious alcoholic. A human alcoholic and very depressed because things didn't work out the way I had imagined."

"There is always the danger of that."

Damon swallowed the contents of his glass and set it aside. "Come on. I'll show you where Elena is."

They went out the front door and headed for the cars in the driveway. Elijah said, "Let's take my rental. You guide me."

"Alright," Damon said, putting the keys to his car in his pocket. Noticing that Stefan's car was gone, he got into the passenger side of the black SUV. He gave his companion directions to the cemetery, which, in fact, Elijah remembered. As they drove along, Damon asked, "How is that baby niece of yours doing? Klaus and Haley's child?" He knew that initially, the Mikaelsons had faked the baby's death, but it was known now that the little girl was very much alive.

"Hope is fine. Growing. She has potential abilities, which is not a surprise. Her existence has torn our family apart. Niklaus has acted in a manner beyond reason to protect Hope. If he were not her father and protector, I believe I would kill him."

Damon looked at him with some surprise. He was well aware that Elijah had tried to kill his brother before and had changed his mind at the last moment. "You want to tell me about it?"

"I think not. It is extremely complicated and would require too much time. But I will admit that I harbor great anger toward him. The only good thing he has done is seen that both our parents are truly dead. In addition, our mother's sister, a nasty witch, is also truly dead."

"Well, that sounds like something good came from the disasters that Klaus can create," Damon reasoned. He quickly added, "I'm not defending your brother. I hate the bastard, too. How does Haley feel about what he's done?"

"She is furious. She and her pack are all in wolf form and stuck that way except on the night of the full moon."

Damon could see the anger on Elijah's face, and hear it in his tone. The man had reason to hate his brother. Damon was glad Klaus was in New Orleans and unlikely to come to Virginia again.

"Why don't you leave New Orleans? Turn your back on the whole mess?"

"I won't leave Hope. I promised Haley I would protect her as best I can. I will fly back there as soon as I have seen Elena, but I cannot live in the same house with Niklaus any longer. Marcel has a place across the river."

"Do you think there are any vampires living happy lives?" Damon asked, even though he had been very happy during the summer when Elena had shared his bed.

"Happy? I doubt it. Reasonably contented, perhaps, but only for short durations."

"I suppose you're right. Turn left, then it's the first left you come to. It's up the hill, but you'll have to park at the bottom."

Soon, Elijah parked the vehicle and they walked up one of the paths that led to different parts of the wooded cemetery. The marble mausoleum with the name _Salvatore_ engraved over the door came into view.

"Bonnie cast a spell to seal the door, but she changed it so that Stefan and I can enter to check on Elena. Not that she's going anywhere. What the hell!" Damon said as they approached and he saw the door ajar. "I know Stefan closed and locked the door! Just a short while ago! Stefan?" He opened the door wide and rushed inside. Stefan was not there. Going to the coffin, he expected to see Elena. He swore mightily when he saw that it was empty!

 _A/N I hope you like this little mystery. Did Elena wake up and walk out? Did Bonnie remove the spell on the door?_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Elijah came to his side and stared at the lovely satin lining of the empty casket. The pillow had a depression where her head had rested. One stray dark hair lay on the fabric. "Would Stefan take her for some reason?"

"Why would he?" Damon snapped, taking his phone from his pocket. Pacing back and forth in the limited space, he called Stefan. "Did you take Elena?"

"What are you saying?" the younger brother demanded.

"She's gone, damn it! Her body isn't in the coffin! The damned door to the mausoleum was open!" he shouted.

"That's not possible. Only you and I can get inside," Stefan growled over the phone. "I didn't go back after we left. Do you think Bonnie went in for some reason?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm here with Elijah and I'm telling you found the door open and Elena's gone!"

"Why is …?"

Swearing, Damon cut Stefan off and then phoned Bonnie Bennett. She didn't answer and he left a message that she call him right away. He then stood thinking, trying to consider who might have removed Elena's body and why.

Elijah, who has listened to both sides of the conversation, watched him. "Any ideas?" he asked the distraught Damon.

Although Elijah's initial interest in Elena had been because she was the doppelganger of Katherine Pierce, or Katerina Petrova, he also admired her for the type of person she was: intelligent, strong and caring. And since he had once loved Katerina, he was attracted to Elena because she was her double. A nicer double. His brother Klaus had had a different reason for wanting to locate Elena, and of course, it had been a purely selfish one. Klaus, in fact, had caused one of Elena's deaths.

"Is it possible that she arose and walked away herself?" the Original asked.

"Of course, it's possible. That's why I tried to reach Bonnie Bennett. If something happened to her, if she suddenly died, Elena could rise."

"And you have not reached her."

"No. There could be several reasons why she's not answering her phone. Let me text her, just in case she can't speak on the phone right now." He did this, but again he received no immediate answer.

"Call someone to check for finger prints on the door," Elijah suggested.

Damon wished Sheriff Liz Forbes was still alive. She had been a trusted person who knew the vampires well, especially since her daughter Caroline was one. He hesitated to call any other law officer, not when there was the possibility that Elena had walked out of the crypt.

"I'll wait on that," he told Elijah. "Let me check with Vampire Barbie. Uh, Caroline Forbes." He put in a call to her.

Elijah waited patiently, although he was concerned about Elena's whereabouts. He knew Caroline, a blonde vampire and good friend of Elena and Bonnie. He also knew his brother Klaus had a love for her. He somehow doubted that it would last and that Klaus' roving eye would settle on any number of females that might temporarily increase his heartbeat and go to his bed.

For a moment, Elijah's heart felt a stab of pain as he thought of the cruel moment when Niklaus had caused the death of Gia, a vampire for whom Elijah had recently had growing feelings. With Haley married to Jackson, Elijah's love for her had to be put aside and he had been developing real feelings for Gia. Niklaus knew how to hurt his brother and was not above doing so. It certainly made Elijah think of vengeance, but there was also little Hope to consider. It was a frustrating dilemma. And now there was this situation with Elena.

"Caroline, have you seen little Miss Witchy?" Damon asked as he reached the young woman.

"Bonnie?"

"Of course, I mean Bonnie!"

"No. Why?" Caroline asked.

"Elena is not in her coffin."

"Someone took her? You think Bonnie would do that?"

"No, I don't think so, but if something happened to Bonnie…"

"Oh my God! You think she may be dead?"

"I don't know."

"Then Elena would have come alive and climbed out of the coffin! Oh my God!"

"Are you at school?"

"No, Damon, it's Saturday. I'm shopping."

"I'm going to go by her house and see if she's home."

"Bonnie or Elena?"

"Bonnie!" Damon snapped with frustration.

"Call me if …"

Damon hung up on her, cutting her off. He shook his head. "Sometimes talking to Caroline makes my head spin."

A small, sympathetic smile touched Elijah's lips. He didn't smile much. What was there to smile about these days?

"I'm going to Bonnie's house. If you want to take me home, I'll use my car."

"No. I will drive you. I wish to solve this mystery, too."

Again, Damon gave directions and soon they were in the neighborhood where the three girls – Elena, Bonnie and Caroline – had grown up. Damon nodded toward a house that was under reconstruction.

"That was Elena's home until she set fire to it after Jeremy died. He's alive again now, but she didn't know he would be brought back from the Other Side."

"My brother Kol has come back a couple of times, but he's gone again. We are hoping to bring him back in a human's body. Again."

"Stop here. This is the Bennett house. Kol is a mean bastard. Why would you want him back?"

"He is not always incorrigible. And he _is_ one of my brothers," Elijah said as he parked by the curb. "Finn I hope not to see again."

"And you'd off Klaus if you could."

"Yes. At least, in my present frame of mind."

Damon shook his head. "Elijah, buried somewhere in your cold heart is a soft spot."

"It is a deep devotion to family, at least to my siblings. I have another sister, by the way."

"Oh? How come?" Damon asked as he got out of the vehicle. He noted that there was no car in the driveway where Bonnie usually parked.

"Long story. The short version is that Mother's first born, a girl, was taken away by my aunt. I always was told the child died of illness. Like Mother, the aunt was a strong witch and worked out a way to live on into the future. The present. She wanted to get her hands on little Hope. She did briefly, but Niklaus was there and, in the end, she died. Our sister, Freya, is part of the family again."

"Does it ever bother you that nothing is ever as it seems?" Damon asked as he walked to the Bennett front door. "Dead people are never dead and gone?"

"It bothers me, yes. Occasionally, I am pleased to see someone I thought never to see again," Elijah admitted. He followed Damon to the porch of a small, wooden house that was next door to the one undergoing major repairs. The place was neatly painted and the yard in good order. "Are either of Miss Bennett's parents still alive?"

"No. Her father was murdered and her mother is off somewhere. She was the one who helped Bonnie to initially open your mother's coffin."

"Ah. Yes, I recall that now. It was a shock to us siblings to be confronted by Mother's reappearance," Elijah admitted. "Niklaus was sure she had come to kill him. Scared the crap out of him." The small smile touched his lips again and Damon noticed. "Ironically, she really had come to kill all of us."

"Can you imagine the thousands of vampires around the world dying if she had succeeded?" Damon said. "All the descendants of you Originals. Neither you nor I would be here now." He was usually aware that, as a vampire, he was a descendant of Klaus, but he didn't dwell on it. "I would rather you didn't kill your brother Klaus. I get depressed, but I'm not ready to die."

"I sometimes forget that situation," Elijah said. "I do not want to be responsible for all those deaths. It is interesting that when Rebekah chose to go into a human body, there was no kill-off of her descendants. Or at least neither Niklaus, Kol nor I heard of that occurring. Damon, there is no one in this house."

"I don't sense anyone, either," Damon said with disappointment and alarm. He led the way around to the back yard, stood there for a long moment and then knew Bonnie was not there either. "Alright. We have to drive to the college and see if she's there somewhere."

"Or if Elena is there."

As they left town to drive to Whitmore University they were silent, each deep in thought. Finally, Damon said, "This doesn't make sense. Bonnie wouldn't take Elena's body. And she wouldn't ignore her phone."

"Perhaps she does not want to speak with you specifically. Allow me to call her. What is her number?"

"And you think she is going to want to talk to Elijah Mikaelson?" Damon asked with a snort.

"Out of curiosity, yes. Why would I be calling her?"

"Yeah, why? Okay." He gave him Bonnie's memorized number. It was on speed-dial on his own phone, but he knew it by heart. In a couple of minutes they knew she was not answering Elijah's call either.

"Something has happened to her," Damon said in a worried tone.

As far as Elijah knew, his companion was not a dear friend of the missing witch. For one thing, he was aware that witches, in general, didn't like vampires and there were plenty of both in New Orleans. There were only a few in the Mystic Falls area. In fact, Bonnie might be the only one at present, while Damon, Stefan and Caroline might be the only vampires there. Of course, he, Elijah, was not aware of the entire population of this small town. He hadn't lived there for over two years and the disastrous family struggles in New Orleans had required his full attention.

"Miss Bennett does not have a grudge against Elena, does she?" he asked as he drove along.

"Not really. They're close friends, despite problems. It's been a disastrous year for us, Elijah. For the whole Scooby Doo group."

Elijah glanced at Damon. Being a man of wide knowledge and a lot of trivia, he knew who Scooby Doo was. He assumed the name now referred to Damon, his brother and their friends with assorted supernatural abilities.

"My mother has come back, too," the younger man muttered.

"Oh?" Somehow, this was not a great surprise to Elijah. He knew too many people who did not stay dead and gone.

"Yeah. Turned out she didn't die of illness way back when. She was a vampire. Still is. And not only that, she is one of those weird combo types. Part witch. You know what I mean?"

"Yes." Nothing was simple in Elijah's family either, of course. When not vampires, his siblings Finn, Kol and even Rebekah had witch capabilities. And apparently even little Hope did, too, besides being the offspring of a werewolf and a vampire-werewolf. "The world is insane, Damon. I feel as if everything is out of control."

Damon looked at the man and could see that he was not as calm as he appeared. "It is, Elijah. It is."

 _A/N Well, another chapter. I hope you liked this one, even if it has quite a bit of review of the guys' recent history. It's sort of Damon and Elijah bringing each other up to date on the way things have been going as they try to figure out where Bonnie is and what happened to Elena. More to come, of course._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Before they reached the college, Damon received two phone calls, one from Stefan and one from Caroline, but none from Bonnie. Neither Stefan nor Caroline had located the missing Bonnie, nor had they heard anything about Elena. Stefan had talked to their good friend Matt Donovan, but he knew nothing either.

At the campus, Damon and Elijah found the teacher Alaric Saltzman, who had been set to marry Jo and who was now mourning her by being drunk as much as possible while still keeping his teaching job. Damon explained the situation.

"As far as you know, no one has disturbed Jo's grave?" Damon asked his buddy.

"No. This is crazy," Ric said sadly. "Who would disturb Elena's resting place? Or Jo's? Kai is the only one crazy enough to do stuff like that and he's safely dead."

"Let's hope so," Damon said and he explained to Elijah who Kai was, although he had already mentioned him as the direct cause of Elena's death.

"What about Enzo?" Ric asked.

"What about him?" Damon asked back. "I mean, he's around and he's tied to my mother in some deal. Did I tell you good old Mom created him? In a way, Enzo's brother to me and Stefan. Just as a vampire, of course."

"You may be doubly related if your mother is of Niklaus' line," Elijah pointed out.

"Isn't that special!" Damon snarked. "Alright. First, I want to check out the dorm room that Elena, Caroline and Bonnie were sharing. Just to make sure there's no sign of them there."

"Can you go in there?" Ric asked. "I mean, now that Elena is dead and she was the one who invited you in."

"I don't know. The dorm is somewhat public. Vampire Barbie can go in. Come with us. You can go in if I can't."

Caroline returned as the three men were going up the stairs to the second floor. She nodded to Elijah as a greeting and he gave her back a slight nod. Damon had been in the dorm room before and had no trouble entering. Elijah stayed in the hall, having no need to go into the room. There was no sign of either Bonnie or Elena, although both Damon and Elijah caught traces of their scents.

"I haven't been able to reach Bonnie and I hoped she'd be here," Caroline said, a worried expression on her pretty face.

"She didn't say she was going anywhere? Shopping?" Damon asked.

"I haven't talked to her since yesterday, because she didn't sleep here last night. She could be anywhere and she may have forgotten to charge her phone," Caroline said.

"That's true," Damon grudgingly agreed. "But nothing explains why Elena is gone."

"If she is still in stasis," Elijah said, "it is likely a man carried her from the mausoleum down to the car park. Most women cannot easily carry another adult of normal weight."

"Unless she's a vampire," Caroline said. "I could certainly carry her. Which I didn't. Elijah, how is Klaus?" Caroline sometimes changed the subject without notice.

"Acting despicably. Physically, he's fine, of course. He's concentrating on protecting his daughter from assorted threats." He was vaguely surprised to find that the young woman still had an interest in his brother. He decided that the two held onto their odd bond, but did nothing about getting together. That meant that Caroline was reasonably safe from the turmoil that surrounded Klaus.

"Same old Klaus, huh? Damon, we've done nothing about Elena's things here. Shouldn't we pack them up? Maybe put stuff up in your attic?"

"Yeah. Okay, but not now. First, I want to find her." He didn't really want to deal with Elena's possessions, neither the ones there in the dorm nor the ones at his house. In addition, since Elena's old house had not entirely burned to the ground, there were items from that house that she had put in storage. Legally, all that belonged to Jeremy now, but he had made no decisions about any of it. Thought of this made Damon say, "I should call Jeremy, just to let him know."

"I can do that," Alaric said. He still felt like a father figure to Jeremy. "There's no sense in his coming here, though."

"No. Not unless he knows something we don't," Damon agreed.

"Very unlikely, since he's in Arizona. Come on, buddy. This room is not leading us anywhere." He laid a hand on Damon's shoulder, lightly urging him toward the door.

Disappointed in not finding Bonnie or any trace of Elena, Damon willingly left the room, joining Elijah in the hall. Caroline, closing the door, followed the men as they went down the hall and down the stairs.

Damon in the lead stopped short and Alaric bumped into him, knocking him down another step.

"What?" the older man asked.

"Damn! I thought I saw Aaron Whitmore!" Damon said, his eyes searching the lobby of the building. He didn't see anyone who looked like the former student and member of the wealthy Whitmore family.

"Damon, he's dead. You killed him, remember?" Caroline said in a hushed tone because two other students were coming up the stairs and glancing at Damon.

"I know that! That's what surprised me. I don't see him now."

"Maybe you didn't see him at all," Ric said, again laying a hand on his friend's shoulder. He could feel the tension in the muscles. "You're stressed, man. Seeing things."

"I coulda sworn …" Damon shook his head and proceeded down the stairs.

"Look, let me and Caroline ask around and see if any students have seen Bonnie or have heard that she was going somewhere," Ric said.

Damon nodded and he and Elijah headed to where the car was parked. Once in the car, Elijah asked, "Do you think you really saw the Aaron fellow?"

"He looked real to me and he was looking right at me."

"And you killed him?"

"Yes! Told him I would let him get out of town safely, but I headed him off that night and left him dead in the road. He was the last of the Whitmores. I killed a bunch of them over the years."

"Should I ask why?"

"No. I don't want to go into it."

"Let me just say that I have heard of the Whitmore family in that they were, in the past, connected to the Augustine experiments on vampires," Elijah said. "As far as I know, none of my family was victimized by them."

"Well, I can't say the same."

"I see. So, was young Aaron a vampire or anything else that might have come alive again? We have a hard time keeping people permanently deceased."

"Not that I know of. Just a college kid unfortunate enough to be born into that family. Are you suggesting he might have really come back from the dead?"

"If he was somehow other than a normal human, then he could have come back. And if he was rather irate about being killed by you, he could strike back at you by stealing Elena's body."

"That's a real stretch, Elijah. I don't have any reason to believe he was anything other than a normal human. And if what you're suggesting was true, he couldn't get past Bonnie's spell protecting the mausoleum."

"I suppose not," Elijah said as he drove his rented car back toward Mystic Falls. "Do you wish to go home or somewhere else?"

"Let's cruise around town again and see if we can sense either Elena or Bonnie."

The drive around Mystic Falls took time and produced no encouraging results. Damon checked back with Mrs. Flowers, Alaric and Caroline, but none of them had any news. He and Elijah stopped at the Mystic Grill for a drink and they talked to Matt Donovan, who was the bartender and now part-owner of the Grill.

"You aren't going to believe this," Matt said, " but a guy came in with a girl and I swear he looked like that college kid Aaron Whitmore. I spoke to him and he said his name was Barry Sloan from Baltimore."

"Perhaps that is who you saw," Elijah said to Damon.

"When did you see him?" Damon asked Matt.

"About two hours ago, I guess."

"So, he could have driven from the college to here and come in for a drink," Damon reasoned.

"That does not mean he is Aaron Whitmore," Elijah commented.

"You saw that guy at the college?" Matt asked, surprised.

"I did and I wouldn't be so alarmed if he hadn't stared right at me for a second. He knew me and then he disappeared. I thought I was seeing things."

"Aaron's dead. You told me so," Matt said. He had barely known the college student, for Matt neither went to college nor was in the same social strata as the Whitmore family.

"He was very dead when last I saw him. Enzo was with me and can verify that," Damon said with a snort.

"Enzo?" Elijah asked. "The one who is now a vampire brother?"

"Yeah. That vampire. Knew the Augustines way longer than I did."

"Would he know if this Aaron is back?"

"I don't know. I'm not happy with him right now. I mean, he's a friend of my mother's. She's unstable. All she cares about are her group of weird friends from some prison world. She's devoted to them and couldn't care less about her real sons."

"You said she was a hybrid vampire/witch. How strong are her powers?" Elijah asked. He was practically whispering because a patron of the Grill had just sat down at the bar on a stool next to him and Matt moved to take his order. Music from the juke box overrode some of the conversations in the place.

"I don't really know," Damon said, frowning. He had not thought there would be any connection with those people and Elena's disappearance. "Let's go outside so we can talk."

They left the Grill, walked to the town square across the street and sat on a bench. "I don't see why my mother would be involved with Elena's situation. Or Enzo, for that matter. I _am_ sort of worried about Aaron now. You know what? There never was a funeral for him. Someone claimed his body from the coroner's office and took it away."

"So, he could have come back somehow," Elijah said. "Could he have aligned himself with Enzo and your mother?"

"I doubt it. Enzo helped me set the kid up for the kill."

"Enzo the vampire. Perhaps it was you who was set up by him."

Damon stared at Elijah. "He damned well could have! If Aaron was already primed by Enzo to become a vampire, then that would explain a lot. It still doesn't make sense though. Enzo hated the Whitmores and Wes Maxfield."

"Maxfield?"

"Doctor. Was still doing experiments until Stefan got him for trying to experiment on Elena. Uncle or cousin to Aaron."

"This doctor is truly dead?"

"That I know for sure," Damon asserted. "I killed him. And I don't mean I just broke his neck."

"But Aaron could be a vampire now and still alive, thanks to your friend Enzo, who is aligned with your disinterested, but obsessed mother, a vampire/witch who could cast a spell."

"And perhaps open the mausoleum." Damon nodded as he realized it was a possibility.

"Um hm," Elijah murmured.

"And they could have Bonnie," Damon growled.

"All this is supposition on our part," Elijah pointed out. Damon picked up his phone and called his brother.

"You need to keep an eye out for Enzo or Mother or Aaron Whitmore."

"Aaron? He's dead, Damon."

"Maybe not. Have you found out anything?"

"No. Is Aaron back from the dead and responsible for running off with Elena's body?"

"Maybe. And maybe Enzo or Mother helped."

There was silence from Stefan. Finally he asked, "Why?"

"Revenge? I don't know, Stef. Just be on the lookout."

"Okay." Stefan ended the call.

To Elijah Damon said, " Man, I am really grasping at straws."

"The scenario is not beyond the realm of possibility. Is there any chance Miss Bennett would willingly join with Enzo and your mother?"

"No. But I guess there could be circumstances." Damon leaned back against the boards of the bench and closed his eyes. He let out a frustrated sigh. "What a mess. I thought Elena would be safe where we put her."

"Things in New Orleans have been disastrous, but apparently we Mikaelsons are not the only ones trying to deal with incredible and unexpected events," Elijah said. "Mystic Falls is like New Orleans and some other places. The magical and mystical world has powers in such places and events run amok."

"You'd think we all would be smart enough to move to places less weird," Damon said with a snort.

"Ah, but wherever we go, we take some of that mystical power with us," Elijah said with a slight shake of his head.

"Yeah. You're right, so damned right."

 _A/N Hey, I hope you all liked this chapter. Is Aaron really back or does it just seem like it? Next chapter coming up soon. Thank you to all of you who are reading and especially to Obsess With Elijah, who takes the time to review._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _A/N A guest reader said I should use "character tags." What are those?_

"Are you going to stay in Virginia or go back to New Orleans tonight?" The younger vampire stood up from the park bench.

"I'm too concerned about Elena to leave tonight. I hired a private jet, so it matters not when I leave. I can stay at the hotel here in town." The older vampire stood, too.

"Oh, come on, Elijah! Of course you can stay at my house. Just don't choose Elena's room and don't molest Mrs. Flowers."

"I would not think of it. Thank you for the invitation."

Neither one of them had moved from in front of the bench when Damon added, "Before we go to the house, I have to report Elena's disappearance to the Sheriff's Office. I'm reluctant to do it, but I better. There's no telling what they might find. You never know."

"Probably a wise move," Elijah agreed. He started to move toward the car, but Damon stopped him.

"Let's just go in there first. It's right there beside the Grill." They walked to the ornate old court house building, went up the front steps and entered, going to the sheriff's office just off the lobby. Damon missed Liz Forbes, whom he had trusted, but she had died of brain cancer. Robert Longley had been head deputy and had become interim sheriff. Now he had been elected sheriff, making it official. Damon knew that Longley was aware that there were vampires and witches and werewolves in his county. He was not as sympathetic to the supernatural as Liz had been.

It only took a few minutes for Damon to explain that he had gone to the mausoleum to spend a few minutes with the deceased, had found the door open and the casket empty. He admitted that he went twice a day and had gone earlier this day. When he retuned, he found her body missing and so far he had not found anyone who knew what had happened to it. Longley said he would send a forensic team to check for finger prints and possible other clues. He was a little annoyed that Damon had not reported the crime earlier.

After leaving the court house, Elijah drove Damon home. Stefan's car was in the wide driveway, as were Caroline's and Alaric's.

"Poor Ric," Damon said before he got out of the vehicle. "The guy has had terrible luck with women. His first wife became a vampire and left. He fell in love with Meredith Fell, a lady doctor here. She got into trouble, sold her practice and walked away. He really liked Elena's aunt Jenna, but Klaus killed her. You remember Jenna, I'm sure. And now his bride-to-be Jo is dead. They were expecting a baby," Damon said, shaking his head.

"It appears the Fates do not wish him to be happily married."

"That's the truth. He had an apartment when he first moved to Mystic Falls and kept it even when Klaus moved in, as you recall. Then he moved to Elena's house to be legal guardian to Elena and Jeremy. After Elena burned down part of the house, all three of them moved to my house."

"Alaric is a strong man to bear all that," Elijah judged.

"Yeah, he is. Drinks too much, but I can't blame him for that." Damon opened the door of the SUV and stepped down, heading for the front door, followed by Elijah. They found the group in the study, sitting around, drinking.

"Jeremy wanted to come back," Ric said. "I told him not to." The young man had been in town just days before to say goodbye to his beloved sister.

"Good," Damon said, nodding. He went to the bar and poured himself a drink, plus what he had given Elijah before. He handed the glass to the Original who had taken a seat beside Caroline on the sofa after she had patted the spot, inviting him to sit.

"So, did you guys learn anything?" the blonde asked.

"No," Damon said, sitting on the other chair facing the sofa. Stefan was seated in the one closest to the fireplace. He told then about reporting to the sheriff. "Elijah and I were talking about Mother and Enzo and Aaron Whitmore being possible culprits to this mess."

"You don't know if Aaron is a vampire," Stefan pointed out.

"No, I don't, but if he is …"

"This is such a complicated mess," Caroline complained. "Why can't people stay dead? Oh, I don't mean Elena, but Aaron and your mother and …whoever."

"Yeah, it's complicated," Stefan said. "It always is. Even if we go somewhere else and try to start over, the past catches up with us. Believe me, I know."

"Over and over again," Elijah said, nodding. "Can you phone your mother or Enzo?"

"I can call Enzo," Damon said. He had a lot of phone numbers in his cell phone. "My mother doesn't have a phone. Yet." In fact, he didn't know if she now had one and someone had shown her how to use it. He soon had dialed Enzo's number, if Enzo still had the same number. The man didn't answer, so Damon left a text message.

Mrs. Flowers came to the door to the study and asked how many were staying for the evening meal. It was then agreed that all of them would stay. There would be six of them when Mrs. Flowers joined them at the table.

Damon turned on the television to see if there was any mention of Elena's disappearance. Sure enough, a media truck and reporter had followed the law officers to the cemetery. The reporter and her camera man were at the mausoleum.

"It was discovered today by Mr. Damon Salvatore that the body of his late girlfriend Elena Gilbert has been taken from her casket, which had been placed in the Salvatore mausoleum." The reporter continued to give the facts, most of which were not really known to her beyond what she had already said. In addition, she mentioned that Elena had been one of the people killed when an "explosion" of some sort had occurred at a wedding. One thing she did not know about was that there had been a headless body, Kai's, at the wedding site and that Damon had seen to it that both body and head were gone, buried, but not together. The reporter also did not know that he had saved the critically wounded Bonnie with his blood, and now she was missing.

He changed the television station to a game show and reduced the volume. None of them wanted to hear about their dead or missing friends.

Damon's phone buzzed and he took it from his pocket.

"Enzo, where are you?" he demanded.

"Why the hell should I tell you, mate? And why did you try to get in touch with me?"

"Elena's body is missing from her coffin. Do you know anything about that?"

"I'm not into bodysnatching."

"Did my mother take it?"

"Your mother is only interested in her friends. She's in Charlottesville where they are."

"Is Aaron Whitmore alive?"

Enzo hesitated to answer for a brief second. "I don't know. You broke the kid's neck, as I recall. As a human, he ought to be dead. It's very hard for humans to breath with a severed spinal cord. I don't have to tell you that."

"I have my doubts about you, Enzo. I think you did something to save Aaron. You knew I as going to kill him. Why would you do that?"

"Why, indeed? The Whitmores caused me years of suffering. Don't look to me for the answers to this mystery, mate. Bye, Damon." He hung up.

The others in the room had heard both sides of the conversation because Enzo had been speaking rather forcefully. They were not surprised by Damon's swearing at the silenced phone.

"Do you believe him?" Elijah asked.

"No! I don't trust Enzo an inch. I think he knows something, including that Aaron is alive. And just because Mother is now in Charlottesville, that doesn't mean she was not here earlier."

"But why would she be?" Caroline asked. "As Enzo said, she has nothing to do with Elena."

"It would take a witch to open the mausoleum door. Bonnie or Mother," Stefan reasoned.

"What about Jo's younger sister Liv?" Caroline asked. "The surviving twin?" Of the two sets of twins, Kai had killed two individuals so that he survived as the strongest, except that Damon then beheaded him. The girl barely counted anymore, if she was still alive.

"I don't know where she is now," Stefan admitted. "Not since the disaster at the wedding."

The group drank and talked until Mrs. Flowers had dinner almost ready. Caroline went to the kitchen to help. Then the group gathered at the dining room table. Elijah did not sit until Mrs. Flowers was ready to join them. Like the old-fashioned gentleman that he was, he held her chair for her as she sat and then took his own seat. Caroline, the only other woman there, had already plunked herself down, not thinking about anyone seating her. The gathering then enjoyed the meal as much as they could while worrying about the missing Elena.

"The more I think about Aaron, the more I wonder if he is the one we should be concentrating on," Damon said at one point.

" _If_ he is alive and _if_ he is in the area," Stefan pointed out.

"If he is, where would he be likely to go?" Elijah asked after touching a napkin to his lips and then returning it to his lap.

"The Whitmore mansion is near the Whitmore College. Almost on campus," Damon said. "Believe me, I know that place. At least the basement of it."

"Some of the classes are held in the house now, since no one is actually living there," Caroline said. "There's been talk of using some of the rooms upstairs as dorm rooms, but there's some legal issues."

"I wonder who owns the house now," Damon said.

"It's part of the Whitmore estate and is tied to the college," Alaric said.

"I'll bet the basement is locked up tight," Damon said with a snort. "That's where the cells and lab for experiments are."

Although Damon had initially kept secret the fact that he had been a captive of the "mad" scientists many years past, after his more recent capture and escape – and the reappearance of Enzo, whom he thought had died – the truth had come out to Stefan, Elena, Caroline and a few others.

"Would it not be wise to explore the Whitmore basement?" Elijah asked. "It would make a secure refuge for someone like Aaron, if he is the antagonist in this mystery?"

"It would," Damon agreed. "Not only that, but Dr. Maxfield had a lab right here in Mystic Falls. It's in the basement of the old office Elena's doctor father owned. Turned out Dr. Gilbert had done some experiments, too."

"To find a cure for some diseases," Stefan pointed out. "Using vampire blood."

"Even though your blood couldn't stop your mother's cancer, Caroline, I know of a couple of cases where the blood controlled the cancer, held it in check," Damon said to the blonde girl. "Dr. Gilbert had one of those patients and was convinced that vampire blood held the cure for cancer."

"I know. That girl was roommate to Elena and me. Until she was killed, that is."

"Uh huh. By Enzo," Damon said with a smirk. "Maxfield made him do it."

"I have heard of some successes," Elijah added, nodding. "Control, rather than cure, unless the person chose to become a vampire."

"Alright. After we finish eating, I want to go check out Dr. Gilbert's old office," Damon decided. "Elena could be resting practically under our noses, so to speak."

 _A/N I hope you all liked this chapter. More to come. Feel free to comment. I love to hear what you think of the story, unless you hate it._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Wouldn't we have sensed Bonnie's presence when we tried to locate her earlier? We cruised right by the old office. I mean, if she's also in the basement there?" Stefan asked.

"Not if she is sedated, if she was not sending out strong signals," Elijah said. "In addition, there were a great many people in town when Damon and I drove through."

With dinner over, Damon, Elijah and Alaric went in Elijah's SUV, while Stefan and Caroline went in Stefan's Porsche, and drove through the dark of evening to the center of town again. They found parking and walked to the doctor's office diagonally across the square from the court house. It had been closed for several years, although Wes Maxfield had bought it. He had only been interested in the prisoner cell and the lab in the basement, which was good-sized because it actually extended somewhat under the store next door, which theoretically did not have a basement.

To Elijah Damon said, "There was a fire downstairs when some townsfolk tried to burn some of us vampires to death. With Bonnie's help, Stefan was able to save me. Sometimes, he's a really good little brother."

Stefan, standing behind him, just gave a snarky snort. He added, "As you can see, the whole building didn't burn down, but everyone else down there died."

The group stood behind the building where there was a door to the basement. Heavy plywood had been used to seal the door, but now it was obvious that the plywood had hinges and was a usable door again. Damon used his fingers to try to open it, but it resisted. Not to be denied, he dug in with vampire fingernails and ripped the door off its hinges. They all stood listening in case someone had heard and came to investigate. No one did and they quickly entered the dark basement and pulled the plywood back into place.

The four vampires immediately caught the scents of Elena and Bonnie. It was strong, but not as much as if the girls were actually there. Damon found a light switch and turned it on, helping them to find their way. They were in the lab, with its examining table and various tables and cabinets. Somewhere beyond, the prisoner cell was in darkness.

"I'm pretty sure Enzo said this is where he spent several years. The last couple of years he was a prisoner," Damon said. "It had to have been after the fire."

"And this is where I found Elena," Stefan added.

They checked the cell in the back and could tell both girls had been there.

"There's a television here," Stefan observed. "Maxwell let Enzo watch TV."

"Yeah. He told me that. And he read a lot of books and played video games. It helped him keep up with the world today," Damon said. "But he was still a prisoner and still underwent experiments. Sixty or seventy years of his life under different 'owners.' "

Everyone was silent for a long moment as they thought about this.

"Is it my imagination or is Aaron's scent here?" Stefan asked.

"It's Aaron's," Damon and Caroline said together. The scent was not strong because vampires did not put out a strong body scent, except when they had fed heavily on blood.

"That little bastard!" Alaric growled.

Elijah breathed it in so that he would recognize it if he caught Aaron's scent again.

"Alright," Damon said. "They were here and now they aren't. Aaron was here and now he isn't. So, with or without help, Aaron is the one who has Elena and Bonnie."

"He might have used Miss Bennett's ability to open the mausoleum. Forced her in some way," Elijah reasoned, although he knew some other explanation was possible.

"Looks like it," Alaric agreed.

"The young man is definitely a vampire," Elijah said breathing deeply. He was an expert at catching the faint scent of a vampire.

"And Enzo must have done it to him," Damon agreed. "Damn him! Someone else was here too. Some guy, but the scent isn't familiar."

"I don't recognize it either," Stefan said. "Someone human helping Aaron move his captives around?"

"A possibility," Elijah agreed.

The group left the basement and pushed the plywood in place over the doorway. There was no sense in leaving it open so that unwanted people could get in.

"I want to check the basement of the Whitmore mansion," Damon growled. "I bet he's taken them there."

"There's still the chance that Enzo is helping Aaron and they have taken the girls to Charlottesville," Stefan said. "Aaron might figure you would check the mansion and he doesn't want to come up against you without help."

"I guess that's true."

"Caroline and I will drive to Charlottesville. You and Elijah check out the mansion. Ric, what do you want to do?" Stefan asked.

"Take me back to the house. I can be there if Bonnie or anyone else with word calls there," the man said.

"That's fine," Damon said and in a few minutes he, Elijah and Alaric were in the old Chevy headed for the Salvatore house. They dropped Alaric off.

"If you hear anything at all, Ric, let us know," Damon said. Then he and Elijah headed for the Whitmore place some miles to the south. When they arrived, Damon parked near the back side of the house that he knew so well, the house that still gave him qualms in the pit of his stomach.

"I hate this place," he muttered to Elijah.

"Understandable, since you were tortured here."

They stood staring at the house for a couple of minutes. Although the upstairs was dark, the rooms on the ground floor were lit.

"Janitorial service," Damon said. "I know it's Saturday, but maybe there were some classes anyway."

"What is the best way in for us? I assume we are not going to enter by the front door."

"Let's try the outside door that leads down to the basement. It goes right into the cell area," Damon said and he led the way to a bulkhead jutting out from the back wall. It was mostly hidden by untrimmed shrubs. Because of light coming from a window located almost right above the bulkhead, they could see that the doors were not padlocked. Damon moved forward to lift them up, which would reveal the steps going down to the door into the basement.

Three rapid gunshots rang out from behind the two vampires. Damon was slammed in the middle of his back and knocked down onto the bulkhead doors. Elijah, still standing, was gone in a flash.

Damon felt pain radiate upward in his body from the wound in his back and he recognized that type of pain as coming from vervain. It was a bullet covered with the herbal drug, he knew, but not a dose high enough to paralyze his arms, much less knock him out. He also felt the pain of the wound. In a moment he realized that he could not move his legs. In fact, he couldn't even feel his legs. The bullet had hit his spine and damaged his spinal cord.

The vervain made his weakened upper-body muscles shake as he struggled to turn over so he could look for Elijah. He raised his head and looked around for his companion, fearing to see him sprawled on the ground, but the man was nowhere in sight. _He isn't wounded. Good. Maybe he went to catch the shooter. Is it Aaron? He used a gun on me before. Does he still have it?_ he wondered.

Half turned over, he saw Elijah walking toward him in the dim light. No one else had come to check out the gunfire. Strange.

"He had a vehicle close by," Elijah said, coming close and leaning down.

"Are you hurt?" Damon asked, although the older vampire seemed fine.

"Barely. What is your injury. Can you get up?"

"No. I think the bullet hit my spine. Hurts like hell so it may be wood. And it has vervain on it."

"So did the one that hit me. I am a stronger vampire than you are and I barely feel the effect. Are you saying you are partly paralyzed?"

"Yeah. My legs."

"What course of action do you want to take? Shall I put you in the car? Should I proceed with the search? Or try to remove the bullet?"

"Move me off this damned bulkhead and proceed." Damon gritted his teeth, but he couldn't help uttering a pained cry as Elijah put hands under his torso and lifted him, setting him on the ground beside the bulkhead. "I don't know which hurts worse, the wooden bullet, the vervain or the wound itself."

"All three are sufficient to make you suffer," Elijah said with a trace of sympathy. He left Damon lying on his abdomen and moved to inspect the wooden doors of the bulkhead. He reached down and was easily able to opened the two doors upward, one to the left and one to the right. The dim light was more than enough for him to see the steps and the door to the basement.

"The door is probably locked," Damon said. "Maybe you can kick it in."

Elijah went down to the door and tried the knob, just to see if it was locked. The door opened. "Unlocked," he told Damon. "The scent of the two young ladies is strong. They are either here now or they have been very recently."

"Check it out, but be careful. Aaron's helper may be in there," Damon said. He didn't like how he felt emotionally. It was fear of the prison and a deep memory of what he had experienced there. Now he even feared Elijah would be captured and tortured. A wave of nausea made his stomach contract and what was left of his supper came up. It wasn't much, but it soiled the area of dirt where he wanted to rest his head. Frustrated, he muttered a string of curses as he used a hand to sweep the spot cleaner.

The Original felt around for a light switch, even though he could make out the bars of cells. Bright lights recessed in the ceiling came on when he flipped the switch by the door. Ahead of him was one of the cells and he noted that the bars were very close together. He knew why. The cells had held vampires, a few of whom could shape-shift. Only a small animal like a mouse, a small bird, a snake or an insect could get out.

He quickly checked the cells and found one of the missing women. It was the pretty African-American Bonnie Bennett. She lay on her back on the stone floor with a blanket over most of her body. Elijah tested the cell door and found it unlocked, probably because Bonnie was in no shape to get up and leave. A quick glance around revealed no one else in a cell. Elena was not there. The scent of a male human was still present, but it was not one Elijah had smelled before. Was it someone helping Aaron or some other prisoner?

"Did you find them?" Damon called.

"Miss Bennett. Drugged," Elijah called back as he bent over the woman. Bonnie jerked at the sound of his voice. She half opened her eyes.

"It is alright, Miss Bennett. This is Elijah Mikaelson," he told her.

"Elijah?" she murmured and looked up at him. "Hallucinating," she mumbled and closed her eyes again.

He didn't bother to correct her, but gathered her up in his arms. She resisted weakly and tried to push him away.

"Leave me alone! Don't touch me!"

Elijah wondered what, if anything, Aaron had been doing to her. He didn't shift the blanket to see if her clothing was in disarray. If she had been abused, beyond being drugged, there was nothing he could do about it now. He carefully carried her up the stairs and laid her down beside Damon.

"Bonnie? Can you hear me?" Damon asked. He reached out to touch her shoulder with his shaking hand.

"Damon?" she whispered without looking at him.

"Yeah. I'm here. Me and Elijah. Came to rescue you like knights in shining armor."

A small smile touched her lips. "You're no white knight."

"I suppose not. No shining armor, either. Just a bullet in the back. Elijah, is Elena down there?"

"Not in a cell. The scent of a male human is there along with Aaron's."

"But you didn't see or hear Aaron?"

"No, but he could be lurking."

"The lab is in the next room. The door to the right of the cells."

Elijah went back down the steps and saw the closed door. He found that it, too, was not locked. Either Aaron didn't expect anyone to visit or he didn't have the keys. Elijah opened the door carefully, concerned that an armed person was waiting on the other side.

 _A/N Is Aaron waiting for whoever comes through the door? I hope you liked the bit more drama._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

No one fired a shot or made a noise. He heard no heartbeat.

The Original flipped a light switch and looked around the lab. There were at least three tables made to hold people. Elijah recognized what they were. One was an autopsy table, one an operating room table, and one that would be used by a urologist or gynecology doctor to examine the pelvic area. All three tables were empty. No Elena.

He stood for a long moment, looking around and listening. There was rhythmic, deep thumping, which he recognized as the bass of loud music being played upstairs. The basement was soundproofed, so that the melody, if there was one, didn't reach the basement. Likewise, screams of victims wouldn't be heard upstairs.

He saw stairs leading up to the first floor and an open door to a dark room to one side. He quietly eased to the door and listened and sniffed. He smelled food, but no person. The room was a small kitchen.

Disappointed, Elijah went back outside to where Damon and Bonnie lay. "Elena is not there. Perhaps they took her upstairs."

"The cleaning staff would see her," Damon said between gasps as pain shot up his spine and into his head. His stomach contracted again and he retched, but nothing came up this time.

"Not if he managed to get her to the second floor where the bedrooms are," Elijah said. He laid a hand on Damon's shoulder and could feel the trembling in the muscles. "I need to get you inside so I can dig that bullet out."

"I'd rather not go in there. Take me and Bonnie to the car."

"No. There's the perfect place for the procedure right here."

"We could get trapped there," Damon insisted. He was disgusted by how fearful he was of the cells and lab. Wild thoughts flashed through his mind. What if Maxfield was involved? What if he managed to capture Damon, Elijah and Bonnie? The experiments would start all over again! He didn't think he could stand it again. No, Maxwell was dead! But then again, people kept coming back from the dead, except good people like Liz Forbes and Jo Laughlin. A shudder of dread ran though him, but he didn't tell Elijah why.

Elijah was sensitive enough to guess that the younger vampire had lingering fears of the place, even though he had been ready to enter it to look for Elena. In addition, Damon was in a lot of pain, enough to make him vomit. Things were not going to improve with the poisoned bullet still lodged in his spine.

"You can argue with me over this, but you are not strong enough to prevent me from carrying you down there," he said evenly.

"I can punch the hell out of you," Damon growled. Although he was afraid, he also knew that Elijah was right. Quick removal of the bullet would allow his body to heal. He was in a mean situation and he hated that.

"Go ahead. And bite me if you feel you must, but I am taking you down there where I can properly treat you," Elijah said. He bent down and rolled Damon onto his back, ignoring the pained cry this brought. He then scooped him up and moved toward the stairs in a blur, leaving Bonnie lying quietly on the ground. She had said nothing during the conversation.

"We shall be back," he told her.

"I'm not going anywhere," she muttered. "Help Damon."

Stunned by the pain and really weak, Damon neither hit nor bit Elijah. In a moment, the older vampire laid him down on the autopsy table and flipped him onto his abdomen. Elijah pulled up the bloody jacket and the shirt underneath. He could then see the wound in the middle of the back. He knew that at that location, the bullet rendered a person paralyzed from the waist down if the spinal cord was damaged. And obviously, Damon's was. As a vampire, his body would heal the damage and he would regain control of his lower body, but only if the wooden bullet was removed.

Ignoring Damon's moans and cursing, he probed the wound with a finger. The spinal bones were quite deep in the groove between the muscles, but he was able to feel the sharp edge of a damaged bone. He also could feel the back edge of the bullet, but he could not scoop it out or grasp it with one finger.

"There surely are some instruments here adequate for grasping the bullet," said to his patient, and he moved to see what there was.

Damon just grunted and hoped he found something. He also wished he could pass out during the procedure, but he tended to stay conscious despite intense pain. The doctors who had experimented on the vampires had appreciated that factor.

"Ah. This should do nicely," Elijah said, returning to the patient.

"I could use a bottle of bourbon right now. Or a whiff of nitrous oxide," Damon told him.

Elijah scanned the room and then said, "Sorry. I don't see either. Want me to break your neck or look for some vervain?"

Damon considered this. He knew that either one in a sufficient amount would render him unconscious for a while. If Elijah successfully removed the bullet, the vervain would slowly lose its effect and the back injury would heal.

"I guess not. Too much vervain gives me seizures. Get the damned bullet out. Just do it, but do it fast. Please. Damn. My phone is buzzing. Answer it. Might be Stefan."

Elijah had to fish the cell phone out of one of the jeans pockets and he found that it was Stefan.

"Stefan, Elijah here. What have you found?"

"Where's Damon?"

"He's momentarily indisposed. We have Miss Bennett and believe Elena is here somewhere. What news at your end?"

"Not much. Both Mother and Enzo claim they are not involved in the kidnapping. They could be lying. Anyway, it looks like you're closer to Bonnie and Elena. Is Bonnie alright?"

"Drugged. Stefan, Damon has been shot and I need to remove the bullet, so if you will excuse me, I shall get to it."

"Is he okay? I mean, will he be?"

"Yes. Goodbye."

Elijah turned back to his patient. "Ready?"

Damon just muttered a curse and gritted his teeth. While Elijah probed around in his spine he felt as if he were being tortured by the doctors years back or Maxwell more recently. He found himself retching again and he tried not to let tears leak from his eyes, but they did.

He told himself that Elijah had probably shed tears many times over the centuries, even if he was stoic as hell.

"It is out. You should heal now," Elijah said, putting the bullet and instrument aside. He picked up a cloth and wiped blood from around the wound. Already the tissues were closing.

Damon's clothes were bloody and some of it was smeared on Elijah's suit and had seeped into the material. In addition, he had been grazed by two bullets, one on his side and one on his left inner thigh. Neither wound was deep and both healed quickly. He was just relieved that the thigh wound had not been high enough to graze his more private parts.

He didn't like his suit bloodied, a situation that often made the Original anxious until he could change clothes or rinse out the blood. He had often wondered why he felt obsessive about that, but he had learned the cause somewhat recently from his mother. The answer, which his mind had tucked away in a secret corner, was more disturbing

than seeing the blood on his skin or clothes. He now gritted his teeth and ignored the bloody mess, which was what he did when he savagely killed and got bloodied.

"Good," Damon said with relief, wiping his face and his running nose with his sleeve. "Let's get out of here. Outside with Bonnie." Seeing what Elijah's suit looked like, he added, "Your nice clothes are a mess."

"I have plenty of clean clothes," the Original told him. He always traveled with an extra set or two of clothing.

"Of course you do," Damon said. He could not yet get himself up, so Elijah once again turned him over and scooped him up in his arms. The younger vampire put his arm over the older's shoulder to help with the support.

"We need to stop meeting like this, Elijah," he said with a smirk, trying to make light of the serious situation.

"You should be able to walk about on your own soon. I do not really enjoy carry you."

"Aw. That's disappointing. I thought maybe you did."

"How can you joke at a time like this?"

"Just the way I am, I guess."

In a moment they were outside by the bulkhead, where relief flooded over Damon. His relief was brief. "Where's Bonnie?"

Elijah looked around with alarm. The young woman was nowhere in sight. "Could she have recovered enough to crawl away?" he wondered aloud.

"Or did Aaron snatch her up again? Damn, Elijah, we shouldn't have left her out here alone!"

"Unfortunately, you are correct. The fault is mine." Elijah felt both guilt and anger. He was ready to rip someone's head off.

Damon, still in the arms of the Original, saw a hint of red glow appear in Elijah's eyes. Somehow, this made Damon feel better, seeing that the Original did have strong emotions, enough to bring out rage. He could feel the sudden tension in the man's body and hoped not to be crushed as the arms holding him tightened.

"Easy, man," he warned. "We'll find her."

Elijah looked down at him with cold, red eyes. "Hold on. I'm going to try to sniff out where they went." He then leaned forward over the burden in his arms and moved back and forth over the dirt and grass and around the shrubs, like a dog on the scent of some quarry. He did find what he was looking for and it led around to one of the main doors to the house's first floor. He stopped short of going up to the big porch, which was well-lighted. He backed up so that he was hidden by the shrubs at the corner of the house.

"He took her inside," he said, surprised. "He must have taken the chance that no one would see him."

"The stairway to the second floor is just inside the foyer," Damon said. "Moving fast, he could get up there without being seen."

"Then, that is our goal."

"Put me down. I think I can stand now," Damon said. As Elijah lowered Damon's legs, the younger vampire tried to lock his knees to support himself. He wasn't quite as recovered as he thought and his leg muscles were shaky. It seemed like the nerves to his pelvis and legs were tingling. A strange sensation. Elijah was still supporting is upper body, so he didn't end up on the ground again.

While they were doing this, they heard women's voices coming from the house and saw that the front door was now open. Elijah looked back along the side of the house and murmured, "They are leaving. They have turned out the lights."

It was the cleaning staff, three women and a man, who were leaving the house. They carried a few things with them, but other items were apparently kept in the house. The man turned to lock the door and Elijah used his ability to compel people from a distance to suggest the man not lock the door. The fellow hesitated, key in the lock, and then withdrew the key. The four people headed down the brick path and to a panel truck.

Damon and Elijah watched and waited, and as soon as the truck was gone, they moved up onto the porch and to the front door. Elijah let go of Damon, who found he could stand now, and who reached out and opened the door. Silently, they entered and for a moment stood listening and sniffing the air. Because of the cleaning crew, there were too many scents to allow them to catch anyone else's.

"Aaron would have gone upstairs," Damon said. "The rope across the stairs is down."

"I see that," Elijah muttered, noting the barrier of the kind often used to show that an area was off-limits. Where it had likely been stretched across the bottom step, it was now doubled back and hooked against the wall. Elijah zipped up the stairs in a blur.

Damon tried to follow in the same manner, but the impairment caused by the injury and the vervain had not entirely left. A little more than half way up the stairs he fell to his knees with a hard thud, lost his balance, and fell onto his back on the landing. Cursing, he struggled to get up.

Elijah came quickly back down to help him up.

"I can do it!" Damon growled, embarrassed and frustrated.

"Shut up," Elijah said and with an arm around Damon's torso, zipped on up the stairs. He set him down in the upstairs hallway. Years of dealing with his younger brothers Klaus and Kol had taught Elijah that action was more expedient than argument. Damon scowled at him.

"You are welcome," Elijah muttered, even though Damon had not said "Thanks."

Damon scowled at the Original again. "Coulda made it myself, just not that fast."

"Of course you could. The scent goes this way," Elijah said, moving along the hall.

"You are so clever. Where else could it go?" Damon snarked. The stairs to the attic floor were not in the same location.

Elijah ignored the comment and inhaled the scent. "Do you know the male human we can smell?"

Grumpy Damon inhaled and concentrated on the smell lingering in the air. "No. It's Bonnie, Aaron and some guy. Elena's scent if faint. She may not be here now. Where the hell could she be?"

In silence they proceeded along the hall until they heard a noise a bit further along. Elijah surged forward, came to a door and inhaled. He tried the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn. He kicked the door in. Damon was right behind him and praying there was no blast of gunfire.

The only light in the room came from a streetlight outside, but it gave plenty of light for the vampires to see by. What they saw was Bonnie lying on a bed and a human male crouched beside a dresser.

 _A/N I hope you all like the interaction between Damon and Elijah. Looks like they have Bonnie again; will they hold onto her this time? Has Aaron escaped with Elena again? Thank you for reading, guys._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

One of the two windows in the bedroom was open with café curtains blowing inward. The scent of Aaron was on the breeze, but the young man was not there. Nor was Elena.

"Who are you?" Damon asked the young man lurking by the dresser like a cornered animal ready to charge.

The fellow remained silent, but his expression seemed one of anger and fear. He suddenly leaped at Damon and brandished a wooden stake which he tried to drive into Damon's chest. The vampire knocked it aside and grabbed the arm holding it. He twisted it behind the man's back and held on.

"Who are you?" he repeated.

"Let go!"

"I'm going to break your arm in a second. Who are you?" Damon warned, twisting the arm.

"Larry Nolan."

"And why are you with Aaron, Larry Nolan?"

"Because of Elena."

"That doesn't tell me squat! Why are you helping kidnap Bonnie and hide Elena's body?"

"I love Elena! I'd do anything for her, but she fell for Liam and she didn't even notice me! What does he have that I don't have?"

Damon listened to the whine in the voice and thought Elena didn't like whiny men. This fellow was not ugly by any means, but Damon knew Elena had liked the good-looking guys and ones with a positive personality. The college student Liam was somewhat handsome and positive, he had to admit.

"You realize Elena was lying in a casket? Are you into grave robbing? That's pretty sick if you ask me," Damon growled in his prisoner's ear.

"Aaron said she was going to wake up and she'd be thankful that I was looking after her," the fellow argued, again in a whiny voice. "She would have to notice me then. She'd be grateful."

"And did Aaron tell you she might not wake up for decades?"

"She could sleep for two years?"

Damon wondered if the young man knew what a decade was. How did these people get into college?

"A whole lot longer. How long do you intend to put your life on hold waiting for her?"

"Aaron says she'll wake up real soon. I know who you are. Damon Salvatore, her old vampire boyfriend. Aaron says she doesn't love you like she used to, so why are you here?"

"Aaron's been feeding you a line of bull, Larry, just so you would help him. Where did he put Elena?"

"I'm not telling you. You're the sick one, keeping her in your family crypt," the young man accused. "Aaron says you compelled her mind to take a nap so you could keep her for yourself. Like Sleeping Beauty. I bet you fool around with her while she is in the trance."

Damon gritted his teeth, his indignation and disgust growing. "I sincerely hope the students here at Whitmore are a whole lot more intelligent than you, my friend. You sound like a fourteen-year-old comic book geek. Not that I have anything against them, you understand, but you are in college! You ought to know the difference between fantasy and reality."

Larry swore at him and Damon twisted his arm until the shoulder dislocated. Larry screamed in pain and swore more and tried to kick him.

While this conversation was going nowhere, Elijah was tending to Bonnie. She seemed to be more alert, but still under the effect of whatever drug she had been given.

"How are you feeling?" the Original asked. He could see that her clothing looked to be in place, but that did not eliminate the possibility that either of the men had abused her sexually.

"Drugged. I hate this. I've been carried around like a sack of potatoes and dumped here and there. Can you get me out of here to safety?" Bonnie wearily asked.

"That is my intention. Along with locating Elena's body," Elijah said. "Have you been abused? Are you injured? May I pick you up?"

"Please pick me up, but don't abandon me again. Aaron and Larry came right back and grabbed me. No, they didn't abuse me if you mean sexually."

"I apologize for my negligence in that matter. I should not have left you unguarded," Elijah said. He leaned down, scooped her up into his arms and took her out into the hall. "Do you know if Elena is in this building?"

"From what I heard Aaron say to Larry, he was taking her to the basement of the dorm where she and I and Caroline have been living," Bonnie said. She was alert enough that she was aware that she was in the arms of the one she thought was the nicest and handsomest of the Mikaelson brothers. A damned vampire, but one who was a gentleman and who was carrying her to safety.

Damon, who had heard what Bonnie had said, smiled. Now they had some useful information. He let go of Larry's arm, grabbed his head and twisted the neck. Larry was no longer waiting and watching for Elena's gratitude and love.

Damon followed Elijah along the hall, down the stairs and to the front door. Cautiously, he opened the door and looked out. Seeing no one, he moved to the end of the porch that crossed the whole front of the house. From there he could look down the side to the street behind the house.

"There's a security vehicle parked on the street by the corner," he told Elijah. "Someone reported the gunshots."

"They were slow to investigate," the Original replied. "I had time to dig that bullet out of you and we went upstairs. Poor quality security."

"They probably didn't know where the gunfire was located. But now they are parked just a short way from your SUV."

"Do you see anyone?"

"No. They may have gone down into the basement," Damon said.

"There may only be one security guard," Bonnie said, still in Elijah's arms.

"Alright. Let us go as far as the back corner of the house. If the guard is in the building, we can get to the vehicle."

In a moment they were by the bushes at the back corner of the mansion. It was dark there and they paused to look and listen. No one was visible along the back, although light shown up from the bulkhead area. In a blur, Elijah carried Bonnie to his SUV.

Damon was able to move in a blur now and he did so. He supposed that Aaron would come back to look for Larry and Bonnie. Would he be deterred by the security guard? Would the guard call for reinforcements because of finding the strange basement with cells, an odd lab and fresh blood? Would they search the house? If not, no one would find Larry until his body started to smell.

Elijah put Bonnie into his vehicle and helped her buckle her seat belt. He then got in himself as Damon joined him.

"Back to the dormitory?" he asked starting the vehicle and driving on down the street. He doubted that Damon wanted to do anything different.

"Yeah," the younger vampire said. "Damn it! I can't believe I didn't ask that idiot who let them into the mausoleum! He was there. He must have known! I'm an idiot!"

"You were concentrating on finding out where Elena is," Elijah pointed out, although he too thought Damon had been negligent in not asking who cancelled the spell before breaking the fellow's neck. "In addition, you wasted the opportunity for fresh blood."

"Damn, you're right," Damon growled.

"I did it, Damon," Bonnie admitted from the seat behind Elijah. "I let them into the mausoleum."

"You did? Why?" Damon asked, turning somewhat to look at her. He reminded himself that he had once wondered if she had been the one. She was the one who put the protective spell on the crypt and therefore the one who could most easily remove it.

"Perhaps you didn't notice the hole in the dirt at the base of the mausoleum, in back," Bonnie said. "They had planted dynamite and planned to blow a hole in the wall if I didn't cooperate. They would have blown up Elena, because they didn't realize her casket was placed against the back wall. They captured me at gunpoint. I thought about disabling Aaron when I realized he was now a vampire, but Larry had a gun and seemed willing to use it. I'm sure he's the one who shot at you two."

"He didn't have the gun up in that room," Damon said.

"Aaron took it. Anyway, I cancelled the spell off the mausoleum so they wouldn't blow Elena up. Aaron injected me with some sort of sedative right after that, but I knew they opened the door and took Elena from the casket and carried her to their vehicle. I thought they would just leave me there, but they picked me up, too, and took me with them. They kept moving us; I guess because you all were on their trail."

"You are safe now," Elijah said. "We shall not leave you unguarded again."

Damon, how are you doing?" Bonnie asked. "I mean your back."

"I'm fine. Sore, but fully functional," he assured her.

Elijah drove the short distance to the dormitory building and parked in front.

"There's a back door to the basement," Bonnie said. "Go around the end of the building so you can park out back."

Elijah followed her directions and was soon parked a short way from a panel truck. "That's Aaron's!" Bonnie said, looking over Elijah's shoulder. "You need to leave me here if both of you are going in after him. Let me lie down on the floor back here. Please lock the doors." She undid her seatbelt and moved down to the floor. She was not comfortable, but she was almost invisible down there since the side windows were tinted.

"Are you sure?" Elijah asked. He really did want to go with Damon. "I told you we would not leave you alone again."

"Yes. Go!"

The two men left the SUV with the doors locked and they approached the back door, which was not down any stairs. Damon tried the doorknob and found the door locked. He noticed that the hinges were on the outside, meaning the door opened outward, which was a poor security factor. He lengthened his fingernails somewhat and pried the pins out of each hinge in moments. The door came free and he moved it out of the way.

The stairs going down to the basement were just inside and the two men quietly walked down into a hallway lit by only a few bulbs. They sniffed the air. There were a lot of scents, but two of them were from Aaron and Elena. Both of the men felt encouraged, but they also knew Aaron was tricky and dangerous. He was on the run and now might be cornered.

The scent led them to a room where a washing machine and a dryer rumbled, but no one was there. A quick search helped them find the scent again, this time accompanied by a strong perfume.

"He's picked up some girl," Damon said. "Maybe she was down here doing her laundry."

"They may not be together."

"Yeah, I guess that's true. In fact, let's hope not," Damon said, not wanting Aaron to have a hostage. Besides Elena, that is. He led the way up a stairway at the end of the building. It was late at night by this time, early Sunday morning, but with sensitive ears, they could catch the sound of a radio or television and various voices. Obviously there were a few students about. It was the weekend, with no classes the next day.

"It is amazing that he can carry Elena around without anyone wondering what he is doing with her body," Elijah said. "And the weapon, if he still has it." He and Damon hesitated to step out of the stairwell because of the blood on their clothing.

"If no one recognized her, all he has to do is say she is drunk and passed out," Damon said. "We don't know if the other girl is with him or not." He cautiously looked around, being able to see toward the lobby. No one was in view except a young man and a girl kissing and fondling on a sofa. Neither noticed the two vampires as they moved up the stairs in a blur.

At the head of the stairs, Damon stopped again to look and listen. He thought about the young couple on the sofa and he thought about Elena, Elena in his bed. His damaged nerves tingled around his buttocks, groin and down his legs. To Elijah he said, "Do you ever get any?"

"Any what?" the Original asked, concentrating on the situation at hand.

"Sex."

Elijah stared at Damon for a long moment, wondering where that personal and inappropriate question had come from. Sometimes, he just did not understand today's young people. So many of them did not have good manners. No respect.

"Why should I tell you something of such a personal nature?"

"You don't have to tell me. Just wondered. I know sex is important to me."

"It is important to me, but only with the right person. Usually," Elijah admitted. "Now is not the time to be thinking about such things."

"I know. But thinking about Elena reminds me of our times together. If Aaron has fooled with her, I'll rip him apart, piece by piece, starting with his groin."

"First, we must find him."

 _A/N Aaron seems to be a particularly elusive fellow, playing a cat-and-mouse game with Damon and Elijah. Is he doing this just to get back at Damon? I hope you like how this is going. It is fun to write._

 _I have not been getting my Story Stats update for about five days. Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do about it?_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

They quietly made their way along the deserted hall until they came to a door that reeked of the perfume. The girl's dorm room. However, the scent of Aaron and Elena was also there, almost undetectable amid the stronger scent. The two vampires stood there in silence, listening. What they could hear was the heartbeat and whimpering of the human captive. She wasn't speaking, but they could sense her fear and some of her chaotic thoughts.

"I'll speak to him. You try to get through to her," Elijah murmured.

Damon nodded and focused his mind on the girl. He needed her to invite them in because otherwise they could not walk in. They probably could not even open the door. The building was open to the general public, but not the personal rooms.

Elijah spoke evenly. "Aaron Whitmore, I wish to speak with you."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I am Elijah."

"Where is Damon?"

"Does it matter?" Elijah asked, realizing that the young man inside the room was not sensing Damon. That was good. "He is looking for Elena. Why have you taken her body?"

"Because he wants her. Damon. The love of his life. I'm sure you know that, since you and him have been trailing me."

"It doesn't matter if he loves her. She is dead, for all practical purposes."

"She isn't real dead. I can tell that. Damon's waiting for her to wake up. Bonnie admitted that. Maybe in sixty or seventy years. That's a long wait, but not for a vampire. How old are you, Mr. Elijah?"

"Older than Damon by a few years. I understand he betrayed you and killed you," Elijah said calmly. He was trying to keep the conversation going while he watched Damon mentally communicating with the perfume girl.

"Yeah. The bastard did that, all right. I was warned before hand. Of course, I had to choose to become a vampire. That sucks, but it has it's upsides."

"Yes, it does. Damon lacks a moral code sometimes."

"The bastard! He murdered my whole family! Did he tell you that?"

"No," Elijah lied. "He's a monster if he did that. I do not know him well."

Damon glowered at Elijah and could see a hint of humor in the dark eyes. He then went back to mentally talking to the girl. She was very frightened, not only of Aaron, but also of Damon, himself a vampire. He told her he was there to rescue her and Elena from the crazy Aaron and that he meant her no harm. He urged her to mentally invite both him and Elijah into her room, since they could not otherwise get in. They couldn't even open the door. He could feel the girl struggle to concentrate on this task.

 _You are invited in. He is invited in. Please come in! Please hurry! Help me!_

Cautiously, Damon reached out to touch the doorknob and found that he could. The door would open inward and to the right when he was ready. He looked at Elijah, who noted this success.

"Do you still have the gun, Aaron? The one you shot Damon with?" Elijah asked.

"Larry shot Damon and, yeah, I have it right here and if you come through that door, I pull the trigger. It's an automatic, Elijah. AK-47. Lots of vervained bullets, so stay back."

"I cannot come into the room, Aaron. You know that. What do you plan to do now? It is just Elena's body that we want."

"Yeah, sure," Aaron muttered and added some profanity.

To Damon, Elijah murmured, "I'll go left; you go right."

Damon nodded and turned the doorknob, shoving the door wide open. Even as they moved in a blur, Aaron was ready and he pulled the trigger. The automatic weapon fired a volley of rounds in the general direction of the two vampires as Aaron swept the muzzle around, hoping to hit the fast-moving targets. Despite the blurred speed of the two, both of them were wounded. Damon felt one bullet enter his right chest and then another one thumped into the right side of his head, knocking him back against a dresser.

Elijah was hit in the right shoulder and upper abdomen. He too was knocked backward and hit the wall behind him. The shoulder wound was the most crippling because it shattered his shoulder joint and made his right arm useless. It was a very painful wound, made more so by the vervain on the bullet. He bounced off the wall and headed toward Aaron, but no longer in a blur. He tripped on some clothes that had fallen from the clothes basket the girl must have been carrying. Losing his balance, he fell momentarily to the floor, causing terrible pain in his shoulder. The bullets from the weapon passed over him. In this time, he then saw Aaron throw Elena over his shoulder and jump through the window, glass flying everywhere. He still had the weapon. The girl who had let them into the room, ran out the door screaming.

Damon also saw Aaron escape again, but the head wound made him so dizzy that he fell to his knees. He staggered to his feet and tried to follow out the window, but his control was off and he fell to the ground outside, adding a couple of glass cuts to his wounds. He heard the truck motor start and the tires squeal as Aaron once again eluded them. Cursing angrily, he then looked up at the broken window. He saw Elijah appear there and, holding onto his right arm, in a moment the Original dropped down, landing beside him with a grunt of pain.

"He got away again," Damon gasped, one of his lungs having collapsed. "I just couldn't catch up to him. How badly are you hurt?"

"Seriously enough. My right shoulder joint is shattered. Let us get to my vehicle and leave here before the campus security and the police arrive," Elijah said with a grimace. "We know they are alerted and close by."

He and Damon, the walking wounded, made their way to the nearby SUV where they saw Bonnie's face in one of the windows. Elijah went to unlock the driver's door, but the key was in his right pocket and he could not reach it with his useless arm.

"The key is in my trouser pocket," he said, turning his right side toward Damon.

The younger vampire moved the corner of the coat aside, put his hand in the pocket, grabbed the key and moved to open the door. "I'll drive," he said, seeing Elijah's useless right arm which could not shift gears.

"Fine," the Original said. He tucked his right hand into his belt for support and then hurried around to the other side.

In a moment, both men were inside and Damon started the vehicle.

"You are both hurt!" Bonnie said with alarm. "I heard the gunfire and then saw Aaron jump out the window. He had Elena!"

"He won this battle," Elijah snarled though gritted teeth, "but he hasn't won the war. Damon and I just need time to regroup."

"You certainly need time to heal. I know you heal quickly, but still…" Bonnie noticed that Damon was steering the SUV a bit erratically. "Damon, let me drive before you run into something." As they passed a streetlight, she could see the blood that had run down the side of his face and guessed that he might be seeing double or he was dizzy.

"I'm alright," he insisted. "I'm going to the Whitmore house and see if the place is crawling with the law." As he approached the mansion, he saw no other vehicles except for the security guard's. "Didn't he call for backup? That doesn't make sense. Where are the sheriff and his deputies?"

"Not here," Elijah said. "They could be on their way or involved in some other emergency."

"So now the question is, should we chance going inside so I can treat your shoulder?"

"Aaron likewise could be waiting to go inside, or perhaps he already has," Elijah said. "He could go right back in the window he jumped out of."

"How the hell does that weasel manage to keep beating us? And hauling Elena around while he's doing it?"

"Being a vampire and having an automatic weapon loaded with wooden ammunition dipped in vervain has given him a serious advantage," Elijah growled. "The bullet in my abdomen is wooden and is coated with vervain. The one that hit my shoulder is not wood, but is coated with vervain. How about your wounds, Damon?"

"The one in my chest feels like wood and vervain. Hurts like hell. The one that grazed my skull had vervain on it. I don't know if it was wood or not. Maybe he had a limited supply of wooden bullets. The wound in my back isn't totally healed, I think."

"I sincerely hope that Aaron has exhausted his supply already. Nevertheless, the metal ones with vervain can slow us down, especially you."

"Thanks for pointing that out," Damon muttered. He pulled to a stop by the back door of the mansion which they had left not long before. He spotted Aaron's vehicle further down the street and parked in an unlighted spot. "I don't see him. I guess he went inside. If we go in that basement door, he may be waiting, gun in hand again."

"One would think he would have driven away from this area entirely instead of coming back here," Elijah commented.

"Maybe he thought that was what we would think, so he came here anyway, figuring we wouldn't check here again," Damon muttered.

"Or he is playing games with us. Taunting us," Elijah added. "Especially you."

"One of us should check to see if he left Elena in the van," Bonnie said, while Damon swore at the devious antics of Aaron.

"I shall do it. Stay here. If he starts firing again, leave without me," Elijah said. He had to reach across himself with his left arm to open the door, but in a moment he was outside. Despite the pain of his wounds and the slowing effect of the vervain, he moved almost in a blur to the passenger side of Aaron's vehicle. He could see immediately that no one was in the driver's seat. Cautiously he opened the passenger door. The dome light came on and he could see in a moment that no one was inside. He turned and walked back to his own rented SUV.

With that passenger door standing open, the interior was lighted and one thing was obvious to the three people. The two front seats were a bloody mess.

"I'm going to be charged for damages when I return this vehicle," Elijah observed aloud, standing by the open door and looking around. He looked down at his own clothes and noted that his suit was soaked red. Damon's jacket, T-shirt and jeans were just as bad.

"He will see us if he looks out a window and we have the dome lights on," Bonnie pointed out. She was not eager to get shot. Her sedation had mostly worn off and she was feeling almost normal, more normal than the two vampires, she suspected.

"One of us goes in the front door and one in the basement door," Damon said. "He can't be both places at once. I'll take the front door."

"What about me?" Bonnie asked.

"Do you have your phone?"

"No. He took it."

Damon handed over his own. "Call Stefan and tell him what is going on. I hate to admit it, but it looks like we need help against Aaron and his gun."

As planned, Damon went around to the front and found the door still unlocked. He cautiously opened it and stepped inside, half expecting another hail of bullets. He was already in a lot of pain and unsteady, and he really didn't want to add to it, but he had no choice. He entered the foyer and stood there for a moment, listening. Despite his new injuries, he was still sore in his back, his legs did not feel normal and the nerves tingled, even in his groin. He gave that area a quick scratch through the denim of his jeans. He heard no one as he looked around. Light from streetlights came in though the windows beside the front door, so he had little trouble seeing. If Aaron was anywhere close or moving at all, Damon could detect him, but there was no indication that he was.

Elijah slowly entered the stairway to the basement door where the bulkhead doors were still open. He was sure he could smell the vague scent of both Aaron and Elena, so he opened the door and moved to the side as much as possible. Like Damon, he did not want to get shot again. His shoulder felt on fire, but as long as he kept his heart from beating, the wound did not throb or bleed more. His abdominal wound felt little better than the shoulder. As recently as in the past year he had suffered in New Orleans at the hands of his mother and also his brothers Klaus and Finn. Pain was just one of those things he had to put up with now and then, but he hated it, along with all the blood that he detested on his clothing. He reeked of blood and it made him feel some nausea, anxiety and disgust.

None of that mattered at the moment as he listened for movement inside. He heard nothing and there were no gunshots. Silently, he stepped into the basement. No one was there, so he moved to the door to the lab, where the lights still glowed. He found the body of the security guard on the floor. The man had been shot and was dead.

He headed for the stairs that led to the main floor and went up them. The door was ajar. Again, he stopped and listened, sniffing the air. He could detect the faint scent of Aaron and Elena, but not very close.

Stepping to the hallway, he looked right and left and spotted Damon easing his way toward him.

"Nothing," Damon said softly.

"They passed this way," Elijah murmured. "Perhaps up to the second floor again. The security guard is dead in the basement."

They went to the stairway and proceeded upward cautiously. Following the fresh scent, they ended up outside the room where dead Larry lay. The door was closed and light shown under it. Standing to either side of the door, the men listened, but heard nothing.

"Aaron? Give it up, man," Damon said aloud.

There was no response. Was Aaron just standing there waiting for one of them to open the door? Damon reached sideways for the doorknob and turned it, giving the door a little push. In a second it stood open, but there was no response from inside. For a long moment, neither he nor Elijah moved, somewhat safe, although there was no reason bullets could not come through the wall and hit them. There was only one way to find out who was in the room.

 _A/N I hope you all like this little drama. I know it seems impossible that Aaron could outwit both Damon and Elijah, but he's managing to do it._


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

What they found was that no one was in the room except Larry's body. The window still stood open and they heard a car drive away. At the window they looked out, hoping to see the vehicle, but trees blocked the view. They didn't know if Aaron and Elena were in that car or not, but at the moment neither of them was in shape to pursue it at vampire speed.

"What do you want to do?" Damon asked the Original. He thought Elijah looked a little pale, either from blood loss or pain or both.

"Let us go down to the lab and see if you can remove the bullet from my shoulder. The healing is very slow and therefore very painful," Elijah said, flipping on the light switch. His vampire body was doing its best to pull the bone pieces back together to form the shoulder joint, but it was hampered by the bullet and by the vervain on the bullet. As for the bullet in his abdomen, there was nothing he planned to do about it. Locating it would be too difficult since it could be loose in his belly or stuck somewhere in his intestines. In time, his body would push it out as a "foreign body." He was mainly bothered by the vervain that was on the projectile, so that he had quite a belly ache.

"I hate to give up the chase," Damon muttered.

"I do as well," Elijah agreed as they made their way down the hall and the stairs. "This is only a delay. We repair the damage and reassess the situation."

Once down in the basement, Damon went to the outside door. He closed the bulkhead doors and then the regular door. No sense in showing the law where to enter, should they arrive. Back in the lab again, Damon quickly helped Elijah take off the bloodied suit coat, the soiled tie and the once-white shirt that was stuck to his skin by congealed blood. The Original then held his injured arm against his body with the other arm. A shudder ran though him as he looked at the bloody clothes.

"Lie down on the operating table. It's more comfortable," Damon said, indicating the table next to the autopsy one. The former could be lowered and was easier for Elijah to get onto.

Elijah sat on the padded table and then lay down. On the one hand, it felt good not to be standing up. On the other, he felt vulnerable, his strength impaired and half his body naked. He had to trust Damon to help him and also trust that Aaron would not suddenly appear, gun in hand.

Damon raised the table back up to a convenient height. Besides noting that Elijah had well-developed chest and arm muscles, Damon eyed the wounded shoulder that was swollen and discolored. The bullet hole was obvious. He had no idea where the bullet was, but assumed it was in the midst of the bone pieces. There was no exit wound. "I'll have to poke around and see if I can feel it," he told Elijah.

"I probed around in your back. You may probe around in my shoulder." He still had a grip on his right arm, trying to hold it still. He gritted his teeth as Damon stuck a finger into the hole in his skin and prodded about. Although he gasped and grunted at the pain, he didn't cry out.

Damon could feel the edges of broken bone and displaced cartilage. He had to force his finger into the damage and he knew he was hurting the Original as much as when the man had poked around in his back, maybe even more.

"Alright. I feel it," he finally said. "I'll use those forceps you used on me to get it out." He picked up the instrument Elijah had previously use and guided it into the wound. Ignoring the grinding sound of the man's teeth, he forced the forceps open and got the tips onto the end of the bullet. He had to twist it to work the deformed bullet out of the joint and noted that Elijah squeezed his eyes shut, grimaced and gasped. Unlike Dr. Maxwell, Damon did not get pleasure from tormenting his patient. There had been times in the past when he might have enjoyed tormenting Klaus a bit, however.

"It's out. Your body can repair the damage now. Of course, it will hurt like hell during the process," he said with a smirk.

Elijah opened his eyes and gave his helper a look. "I would prefer to believe that you did not enjoy doing that."

"Not really. You're an okay guy, for a Mikaelson."

Elijah closed his eyes again and made no comment about the dubious compliment. He needed to lie there for a few minutes to get past the worst of the healing pain as the bone fragments moved into alignment. He also was aware that they needed to leave this place before they were discovered.

Damon stepped back and went to the kitchen area. He knew there was a small bathroom there and he wanted to wash both his bloody hands and his blood-streaked face. He looked into the mirror over the sink. His image was a bit pale and tired. Pain and blood loss did that to a person, even a vampire. The wound on the side of his head had healed. The bullet had gone under his scalp, but had not penetrated his skull, and then had made an exit wound. Damon's healing powers let both wounds heal and he had lost no hair. Using a dampened cloth towel, he scrubbed the drying blood from his skin.

He then lifted his sticky shirt and eyed the wound in his right chest. It had closed. Again, his healing ability would take care of expanding his collapsed lung. The bullet was still somewhere in his chest. He suspected that it was resting down on his diaphragm in the lower part of his chest cavity, because there was a soreness there probably caused by whatever vervain remained on the bullet. He was sure it would continue to cause pain just because of the movement of breathing. Eventually, the thing would actually work its way out through muscle and skin.

While he was there, he tried to use the toilet, knowing his bladder was getting somewhat full. The tingling nerve sensation was annoying and vaguely sexual, but more importantly, he was unable to urinate. He knew it had to be the damage to the nerves. His back needed more time to heal. He also eyed his privates to see if there was any wound or mark. Everything looked normal, except for the smears of blood from where his various wounds had bled down into his jeans.

He returned to find Elijah still lying on the table.

"How are you doing?"

"Better," Elijah said with a grimace. "Another couple of minutes, if you do not mind."

"We have time. I think. I don't know where to look for Aaron now," Damon said and he reached for his phone. "Damn, I gave Bonnie my phone. You have yours?"

"Coat pocket," Elijah said.

Damon picked up the bloodied coat made of fine material and fished in the pockets until he found the cell phone. He called his own phone.

"Elijah?" Bonnie answered. "What's going on?"

"It's me," Damon said. "I'm using Elijah's phone. Did you reach Stefan?"

"Yes and I told him what was going on. As much as I knew. What's going on now? You've been quite a while."

"Elijah and I are regrouping. I got the bullet out of his shoulder. Aaron has eluded us again and taken Elena who-knows-where. We think he's in a car we heard drive away out front. We don't know if that's another helper of his or someone he car-jacked."

"Hold on, Damon, there's a call coming in from Stefan."

In a minute, Bonnie came back to Damon. "Stefan was driving here and a convertible passed him going the other way. He made out two men, but couldn't really see them. Too dark. However, the backwash from the car carried the scent of Aaron and Elena, so Stefan turned around and is following them. I told him Aaron has an automatic weapon."

"Good! Now we know they aren't here at the college. As soon as we can, we'll head back to Mystic Falls. Great, Bonnie!"

Elijah had listened to the conversation and he decided to sit up. "We need to get going. I believe …"

To Damon's surprise, Elijah slumped, falling toward him. He reached out and caught him and eased him down to the floor. "Sat up too fast, buddy," he told the Original who blinked and took a couple of deep breaths.

Lying flat, Elijah recovered his senses quickly. "Damn! I should have known better," he muttered, embarrassed. "I thought I had my strength back."

"I think both of us could use a few swallows of good, fresh blood," Damon said.

"I don't suppose Miss Bennett would oblige us." With more care, the Original sat up. He didn't use his right arm and when he was upright, he held onto the arm again to reduce the healing pain.

"I'm sure she would not," Damon agreed. "But there must be a student or two around here somewhere. Like in that dorm room. The girl did mentally invite us in."

Elijah reached his left hand up and Damon took it, helping him to stand. Once on his feet, Elijah pressed the good hand against his abdomen. "My intestines are not happy about this situation. I think I will use the loo before we leave."

"It's right there off the kitchen," Damon pointed out. "You need help?"

"For this? I certainly hope not. I believe I can wipe my own derriere," Elijah said with a snort and slowly made his way toward the small kitchen.

"I meant if you still felt unsteady," Damon said with a touch of amusement. He was worried about the law descending on the house. However, he was also a little concerned about Stefan going after Aaron and his thoughts turned in that direction. The Whitmore vampire was proving to be tricky and dangerous. With nothing else to do, Damon picked up Elijah's soiled coat, tie and shirt and laid them on the padded table. Then he stood looking around at the room that brought back hated and fearful memories. He wanted to leave.

It was a few minutes before Elijah emerged from the bathroom. "The other bullet is no longer in my body." Somehow he had managed to pull up his pants and buckle his belt with one good hand and a weak other one.

"Passed it, did you?" Damon asked, somewhat surprised that Elijah would even mention it. He could be so proper. Now he watched the Original walk to the table and study the two garments that Damon had laid there. It was obvious that Elijah did not want to wear either one.

"Choose one. They are both grungy. Or you can always just go bare-chested, you know." He was sure Elijah would reject that idea. He was not the type to go shirtless while out and about. He had a good body and it seemed unlikely that he was afraid to show it, but he was very old-fashioned. Surely he undressed when in bed with a lady.

"I shall wear the coat," the Original said. He managed to put it on, despite its disgusting condition and despite his still-sore shoulder. He then took the time to remove the silver cufflinks from the shirt sleeves and then threw the shirt and tie into a waste bin. "My phone, please."

Damon handed him the phone. "Let's get out of here. The place gives me the creeps." He and Elijah left through the cell area and went up the stairs. Once outside, they closed the bulkhead doors again. At the vehicle, they found Bonnie waiting somewhat impatiently. She handed Damon back his phone. Elijah let Damon drive and soon they were on the road toward Mystic Falls. They passed a sheriff's vehicle that went by them with lights ablaze.

Once back in town, they went to the Salvatore house. The two men were eager to get washed up and into clean clothes. Bonnie ran to the downstairs powder room, desperate to empty her bladder. They found Alaric sound asleep on the sofa in the study, a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the floor. They didn't wake him. They all tried to be quiet because they knew Mrs. Flowers was also sleeping. As for Stefan, he was not home. Nor was Caroline and they assumed the two were together, following wherever Aaron had gone. Had Aaron stopped in Mystic Falls or gone on to Charlottesville?

Damon texted his brother, asking where he was and what was happening. It was Caroline who used Stefan's phone to call back. "We were heading toward Charlottesville, but then Aaron changed his mind, I guess, 'cause he made a U-turn and is headed back toward Mystic Falls. There's some guy with him that I don't know. For a minute we thought Elena wasn't with them in the car, but then we saw part of her dress lifted by the wind, so she's there, probably on the floor of the back seat. Stefan and I think he knows we're following him. I've got no idea where he's headed."

"Be careful. He's very tricky and dangerous," Damon said in a hushed voice as he followed Elijah up to the second floor. "Elijah and I are at home until we can get cleaned up. Bonnie is with us and she's okay. Keep us updated."

"Okay," Caroline said and ended the call.

"Use that room," Damon said to Elijah and he pointed toward a door across from the one Elena often used. "It's Jeremy's, but he's in Arizona. I told Mrs. Flowers to let you use it if you wanted to. See if your bags are in there."

Elijah nodded, tried the doorknob, found it unlocked and he went inside, turning on the light switch. The room was not large. None of them were, except Damon's, but there were small bathrooms attached to all but two bedrooms. Elijah stood for a moment after he had closed the door and looked around. His garment bag was lying on the bed and his smaller bag was on the floor. There was a bed, dresser, armoire, desk with a chair and a bedside table. A small bookcase held assorted books. There was nothing to indicate that a teenaged young man had slept there.

He walked to the one window, pulled down the shade and closed the café curtains. He felt paranoid and could imagine Aaron, armed, perched on a tree limb and looking in the window. He hoped Damon had the sense to pull his drapes.

The small bathroom had the usual toilet, sink, bathtub and shower curtain for the bathtub shower. Fresh towels and washcloths hung on racks. There was a wrapped bar of bath soap, a small bottle of shampoo, a small tube of tooth paste and a toothbrush in a plastic wrapper. It was like being in a hotel room, he thought.

He put his bag on the bed and chose clean underwear, a tie and a white shirt. From the garment bag, he chose a clean suit and laid everything on the bed. Then he went into the bathroom and carefully undressed, trying not to smear blood around from his nasty clothes. Because of the abdominal wound and because he had carried a wounded Damon, there was cold, clotted blood on his trousers and underwear. His suit coat was as bad. The shoes had spatters of blood. Only his socks were normal.

He took a wonderful, hot shower, washing his hair and scrubbing his body as best he could. The injured shoulder had finally brought all the fractured pieces and torn ligaments back together so that the joint functioned properly, but it was sore and a bruise remained. The hole in his abdomen had healed, although his insides were a bit tender. When he stepped out of the tub, he dried himself and went into the bedroom where he put on the clean clothes, including a tie. He even washed the cuff links and put them in his clean shirt cuffs. A quick scrub cleaned his shoes. After combing his hair, he looked in the mirror over the dresser and approved of his appearance. He felt both physically and mentally better when clean and properly dressed.

Down the hall in the front bedroom, Damon had shed his clothes. In the bathroom, he tried again to empty his bladder, but nothing happened. That was annoying. He stepped into the shower stall. The hot water poured onto his head and blood-tinged water ran down his body and swirled around the drain. He washed his hair, being careful of the tender side where the wound had been. He scrubbed his chest with a wash cloth until the caked-on blood was gone. The bullet wound was just a red spot, and as far as he could tell, his right lung had fully expanded.

His back he scrubbed with a bath brush. The wounded area was healed, but like the other healed areas, it was sore to pressure. He knew he was lucky that he had been with Elijah, who could probe around in his back and remove the bullet. Had he been alone, he would have had to call for help and lie there on the ground until help came. If Aaron and Larry had found him alone, their wooden stake would have been used to kill him.

He was still annoyed by the nerve tingle in his legs and groin. Even his buttocks tingled. He wondered if his ability to perform sexually had changed. He hoped his organ was not permanently damaged in some way. He tried stimulating it and got a small response, which indicated to him that function was still there. But despite the hot running water, his bladder refused to release his urine. In a minute, he stepped out of the shower stall, dried off and found clean clothes in his room.

 _What should we do next?_ he wondered.

 _A/N That's it for this week. New chapter in about another five or six days._


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Bonnie had also retreated to a bedroom that she had used before. She knew that night clothes and a few other items of her clothing was still there. Like Elijah's room, this one was kept neat and stocked, waiting for an occupant to come. Very weary and sore from bruises, Bonnie closed the curtains, removed her soiled clothes, and took a shower. She felt so dirty, but she also was relieved that she had not been beaten or sexually assaulted. In a while, she climbed into bed. She didn't know what the men were going to do, but she needed real, drugless sleep. She was sure that they would come get her if they needed her. She said a little prayer that they would find Elena and get her back unharmed.

Elijah found the door to Damon's room open, so he peered into the room.

"Well lookie here," Damon snarked, eyeing him. "If it isn't the Elijah we all know and love. Dressed to perfection. I've got some good bourbon here. Can you use a second drink?"

"Yes. Thank you. I could also use some blood. We did not stop for any of that restorative type of refreshment on the way here."

"Yeah, you're right. I feel a little low on fuel myself. We can go down to the basement, at least, and drink some cold stuff in a few minutes," Damon said as he poured his guest a drink of bourbon and handed it to him. He then sat on the edge of his bed and patted the area beside him. "Have a seat." He took a swallow of his own drink.

Elijah eyed the leather chair also in the room, but decided to sit where his host indicated.

"This bed is big enough for a couple of basketball players. Female, I assume," the Original said.

"Preferably, yes. It is Elena that I want in this bed with me. I just can't believe what has happened."

"It most certainly was not what I expected when I came up here from New Orleans," Elijah said, sipping his drink.

"Were you expected back there tonight?"

"No. Not really. I did text Marcel earlier after I found we would be hunting for the missing Elena. He doesn't keep track of me, nor I of him, but if there were a problem with Niklaus, I wanted him to know I was not available to help."

"Has Klaus really gone 'off the deep end'?"

"We thought so. But it turned out that he was pretending to go along with the plans of our aunt, who wanted baby Hope, so he could actually protect the child. His pretending, nevertheless, caused harm and unnecessary death. _That_ I cannot forgive him for." He could forget neither that Haley was stuck in wolf form nor the heart-wrenching scene of Gia burning to death in the sunlight. He took a big swallow of the drink, finishing it off.

They heard uneven footsteps on the stairs and muttering. In a moment Alaric appeared at the door.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you two had something going on," he said with slurred speech. "You oughta close the door." He turned away.

"Ric! Come in here," Damon said. "There's nothing going on. We're just talking about how this damned night is going."

"Oh, good. For a minute there, I thought…"

"I do not find Damon that appealing," Elijah said to the drunk.

"What's wrong with me?" Damon asked, faking indignation.

"Probably quite a bit, but I meant sexually appealing. To me. You aren't my type," Elijah assured him. It was an awkward moment.

Alaric staggered in and plopped down on the leather chair. "That's good. I'm not into watching two guys go at it. Besides, you're supposed to be _my_ drinking buddy, buddy."

"I'm still your drinking buddy, Ric. Right now I'm sore from being shot and Elijah got shot, too."

"Shot with vervain?"

"Shot with bullets with vervain."

"You two look fine to me," Alaric said, looking both over as they continued to sit on the edge of the bed.

"We have showered and put on clean clothing," Elijah explained. For a moment the idea that Alaric was full of fresh, hot blood crossed his mind, but he stifled the urge to bite him. Still, the scent of that blood was enticing.

"Together? What'd you do, scrub each other down?"

"Ric, you are drunk and saying stuff you shouldn't," Damon said, frowning. "There's nothing going on between Elijah and me. He showered in his own room. How about you go to your own room and sack out."

"Oh. Okay," the man said and he lurched to his feet. "You two behave yourselves."

The two vampires watched the human leave the room and wander down the hall, hoping he found the right room.

"Sorry about that. Ric is one of the best," Damon said. "Elijah, have you ever had a back injury and then had tingling everywhere below?"

"Yes. A few times, but not for quite some time," the Original said. "Are you feeling that?"

"Yeah. It's annoying, but also stimulating, if you know what I mean." He cupped a hand over his groin. He didn't mention the problem with his bladder.

"It will fade away soon, I'm sure. I believe it is the vervain on the spinal nerves that does that," Elijah assured him.

"It makes me want to try sex with someone to see how that goes."

"Well, if you do not mind, I would like to decline being the one to test it."

"I wasn't really suggesting… never mind," Damon said, embarrassed. He wondered what he would have done if Elijah had said just the opposite. To agree to something of that sort was not beyond the realm of possibility.

Elijah stood up. "Let us get some of that blood you mentioned." He watched Damon stand up, wincing at some soreness, and then he followed the man down the stairs and then down to the basement. He knew there were cells down there. He had been in one of them. But this time it was the bags of blood in the cooler that he was interested in. He would have drunk the blood right there, but Damon took several bags and headed up to the first floor again. They went into the study where Damon poured the blood into glasses. They then sat and drank for a while, waiting. Damon didn't drink as much as he wanted, concerned that his bladder would get fuller.

Finally, Damon got a text from Caroline. _Found the car. Driver bitten, dead. Aaron stole another car, still has Elena. Don't know where._

"Well, that's not very helpful. Come on, guys. Are you two in Mystic Falls?" he muttered and texted that question.

 _Yes. Heading for the house._

 _Who's house? Yours or mine?_

 _Yours, of course. Stefan doesn't live at my house._

"Are you going to share the information or is it a secret?" Elijah asked, since Damon hadn't read the messages aloud.

The younger vampire gave him the news, for what it was worth. "So, we aren't any closer to finding them," he muttered, discouraged.

"If Aaron finds a place to hide here in town or nearby, it narrows the area we have to search."

"It'll narrow it even further if he comes hunting us here. I don't want to endanger Mrs. Flowers or the neighbors."

"Or Miss Bennett." Elijah admired the young witch.

"Right. Once Bonnie is completely clear of the drug, she may be able to do a location spell, although her witchy powers aren't as strong as they used to be," Damon said as he finished the last of the blood he had brought from the basement.

"Location of Aaron or Elena?"

"Either one, but we have more of Elena's things, so I would assume it would be easier to track Elena. Man, I hope he isn't messing with Elena. I mean, besides hauling her body around all over the place." Restless, he paced back and forth in front of the fireplace where only a few embers glowed.

"Try not to think that," Elijah said, although he knew Aaron, or anyone who helped him move from place to place, could do that.

"If I'm not mistaken," Damon said, "your mother said she was able to monitor a lot of what her children were doing during all the years she spent in stasis in her coffin. Do you think Elena is able to do the same thing?"

"I have no idea. It is possible."

"I wish I knew. I could swear she communicated with each of us at her 'funeral.' Mentally, of course. We each felt it. I don't know. Maybe it was our imagination, wishful thinking on our part."

"All of you felt it?" Elijah asked.

"Yeah. Like we were with her, talking to her. Each of us," Damon said, nodding.

"Then I would suspect that she is somewhat aware. Or can be if she desires to be so. Or there is a need."

"So, she may be very aware of Aaron and what he's doing. Poor Elena. Can't even rest in peace." Damon said with both sadness and annoyance. "You need more blood?"

"No. I am satisfied for now. Thank you. Is that not Stefan's car I hear?"

"Sounds like it," Damon agreed, and he headed for the front door, hoping his brother had some good news. At least with Stefan and Caroline back in town, there would be two more to search the local area.

 _A/N Poor Elena if she is aware! I wonder if Kai's spell allows for that. He was mean enough to do that, I think._


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

In a minute, Stefan and Caroline entered. The scent that came in with them told Damon that they had stopped and Caroline, at least, had fed on the way. He slightly begrudged her the nice, fresh blood. Stefan tried to stay away from fresh human blood.

"We lost him," Stefan said. "No idea where he is, but he could be right here in town somewhere."

"I don't know if it's worth it to go cruising around aimlessly," Damon said, returning to the study. Elijah had stood up when he heard the voice of a lady.

"There was an accident earlier where County Road 22 crosses the railroad tracks. The place was crawling with cop cars when we went by earlier," Caroline said. "Aaron wasn't involved, of course." She sat down beside Elijah's seat and he sat again.

"Well, that explains why there were no cops at Whitmore. We left a body there ourselves," Damon added. "At the Whitmore house. Plus one Aaron added. He must be stealing cars and maybe leaving a few bodies in his wake. The law must be trying to track him by now, since they've left the railroad accident."

"He is so out of his mind," Stefan said, shaking is head.

"He isn't the confused kid he was a year ago, I can tell you that," Damon asserted.

"Are you both recovered from your wounds?" Caroline asked, noting that neither Damon nor Elijah looked impaired.

"Mostly," Damon said, not mentioning his nerve problem. His phone rang and he looked at it. It was the sheriff, Robert Longley, who asked if Damon had recovered Elena's body or had any leads as to where she was.

"Aaron had her at the Whitmore dormitory, but we lost him," Damon said, telling part of the truth.

"We just talked to a girl there who said he took her hostage in the laundry room and then went up to her room. He had a woman's body over his shoulder. He had an automatic weapon and shot two men who she invited into her room. Were you one of them?" the sheriff asked. He knew Damon was a vampire and would heal.

"Yeah. If we hadn't been wounded by that damned AK-47 he's carrying, we would have caught him. He's smart, but he's crazy, hauling Elena's body all over the place, jumping out windows with her.

"Have you recovered from your wounds?" the sheriff asked.

"We have."

"Who exactly are 'we'?"

"A friend who knew Elena."

"Damon, I assume this friend is like you. I would like a name. I want to know who is wreaking havoc in my territory."

"Aaron is wreaking havoc, not us."

"There are two dead bodies at the Whitmore house at the college. Both with broken necks. Wooden stake lying on the floor by one of them. A very interesting set-up in the basement. Blood. A man's bloody shirt. A couple of bloody bullets. I'm assuming you know something about all that."

"Why would you assume that?"

"Damon, who is hunting Whitmore with you?" the sheriff insisted.

Damon looked at Elijah, who was listening to the entire conversation. So were Stefan and Caroline. Elijah nodded his consent.

"Elijah."

"Elijah Mikaelson?" the sheriff asked.

"Yeah. Look, we know Aaron left Mystic Falls, went to the college, left there and headed for Charlottesville, changed his mind and came back this way. He could be in town or at the college again. Why he doesn't just leave the area completely, I don't know," Damon said with exasperation.

"I wish I had known he was heading for Charlottesville before. I could have alerted their sheriff and their police," Longely said. "They might have apprehended him."

"I don't want Elena's body caught in a shoot-out," Damon said. He noticed the lawman refrained from saying a few bullets wouldn't hurt a dead body.

"I'm going to alert Charlottesville and the county. He might go there anyway. If you spot him or hear of a location, let me know. Hunting a killer is our job, Damon, not yours, even if he has Miss Gilbert's body."

"I'm still a volunteer deputy," Damon reminded him. He had worked with Liz Forbes several times and she had appreciated his special knack of tracking people down.

"I know that, but you're very emotionally involved in this. I'd rather you backed off. I don't want to find Whitmore with a broken neck or his heart ripped out or his head separated from his body."

Longley had witnessed such bodily damage. He didn't like dealing with vampire kills or trying to come up with fake causes of death for the public. Until recently, Dr. Meredith Fell had been the medical examiner for the county and she had been good at naming such causes of death. Ripped necks and depleted blood within a corpse could be blamed on some animal, although it was never figured out exactly what animal.

The phone call ended.

"I feel grubby," Caroline said, standing up. "I'd like to take a shower."

Damon told her what room Bonnie was in and what room Elijah was using. "Use the one at the end of the hall, over the kitchen, but try to be quiet. Mrs. Flowers is sleeping."

"I'm going up to my room," Stefan said. "Let me know when you figure out the next move." He left the room at the same time as Caroline.

"Is there something between those two?" Elijah asked in a low voice.

"I think so, but it's hard to tell. Caroline is still recovering from the death of her mother. Brain cancer."

"A tragic loss. I recall Sheriff Forbes as an intelligent woman," Elijah said.

Damon walked to the bar and poured himself another small drink. "Want one?" he asked.

"No. I'm fine." Elijah stood up and stretched, testing his shoulder. It was still tender, but it seemed to be working properly.

Damon watched him. The nagging tingle in his legs was easing, but not the one in his crotch and his buttocks, including his posterior orifice. It was not an itch, but almost. More disturbing was the idea that Elijah could scratch that itch. It reminded him of the time a boy witch had put ideas into his, Damon's, head about Elijah's brother Kol and had made Kol feel the "itch." They had managed to resist and the boy witch had met an untimely end.

"Damon!" Elijah said, uncomfortable with the stare the younger vampire was giving to the front of the Original's trousers.

Startled out of his thoughts, Damon realized where he was staring and quickly moved his eyes up to meet Elijah's dark glare. Embarrassed, he said, "Damn it, Elijah. Are you sure you got all of that bullet out of my back?"

"I could not swear to that, no. I looked at the bullet, but not that closely. I did notice that it was a combination of metal and wood. It was deformed by the bone it had hit. There could be a splinter of either the wood or the metal still in there. What are you feeling?"

Damon told him with continued embarrassment, but also anger at the situation.

"I suppose an X-ray would show if there is still a metal fragment in your back next to your spinal cord. I do not know if a wooden splinter would show up," Elijah said, sitting down on the sofa and crossing one leg over the other. This prevented Damon from staring at his pants and also suggested that Elijah was not willing to help in a sexual manner.

Damon walked to the fireplace and stared at the low flames. He bent down and added a small log to the fire.

"Meredith Fell or Jo Laughlin would have helped me get an X-ray, I suppose, but I don't know who would now," he said.

"Some other doctor or a technician might be compelled to take one," Elijah suggested.

"Excuse my behavior. It's just that the feeling is nagging at me and putting ideas in my head. I'm not really asking you to do anything to me. I don't mean to offend you."

"No offense taken, Damon. I do wish I could do something more practical to correct the situation."

"If you think of something, let me know. In the meantime, where should we look for Aaron?"

"Do you think Miss Bennett could do a locater spell on Elena? We mentioned this before, but we have not explored it," Elijah said.

"I don't know if Bonnie's spell could penetrate Kai's and if it did, would Bonnie die or Elena become totally dead?"

"A bit of a conundrum. We do not want to lose either one."

"First, we need to let Bonnie sleep off the sedation so she will really be alert," Damon said. "Do you want to rest for a while?"

"I am resting."

"I meant sleep."

"I am fine as I am. What about you?"

"I'm too wired to sleep. All I can think about is Aaron dragging Elena all over the place. What if he abandons her somewhere? What if the bastard molests her?" He started pacing around the room, sipping his drink as he went.

"It is not all you are thinking about."

"Don't remind me. Let's just forget that. I shouldn't have brought it up," Damon said. Nevertheless, he reached back and scratched the denim fabric over his rear end.

"Let us drive over to the hospital and see if we can compel someone to X-ray your back," Elijah said, standing up. He well recalled going with his brother Klaus to have such an examination done when the piece of metal, put in Klaus' back by Silas, had caused the younger brother to have spinal injury symptoms.

Damon hesitated. Could they do it? Would it show anything? If it did, what would they do about it? "Let me tell Stefan where we're going," he said and used his cell phone. Stefan picked up right away and acknowledged the message.

"Alright. Let's go," Damon said to the Original.

"We will have to use your vehicle. Mine is a mess," Elijah reminded him.

"Okay."

Before they could go to the front door, Bonnie walked into the study. She looked tired and rumpled and was wearing a pair of slacks and a top that did not match. She was barefoot.

"You should be sleeping," Elijah told her.

"I know. I woke up and started thinking about what's been going on. I want to try a locater spell. I don't know if it will home in on Elena or not."

"I would like to know if it will work, too," Damon said.

"Is there not some danger in doing that? I mean to you?" Elijah asked.

"Maybe. We'll have to see. I'm willing to take the chance."

They spent the next few minutes gathering what they thought might be used, especially since some of Elena's things were in the room she sometimes used. Stefan and Caroline joined them. During the preparations, Damon took a few minutes to go to the downstairs bathroom. When he came out, he had an odd expression on his face.

"What's the matter?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know. I think there's a piece of bullet still in my back. It's annoying some of my nerves."

"I thought Elijah removed the bullet," Stefan said.

"He did, but we aren't sure a fragment isn't still in there. It may be wood and it had vervain on it."

"That doesn't sound good," Caroline commented.

"That's an understatement," Damon muttered. "Now I can't pee."

"Oh, oh. How bad do you have to go?" Caroline asked.

"Not too bad. It's hard for me to tell. I feel like I should before we go out again, but I can't."

"There _must_ be a fragment still in there," Elijah said, disturbed by this. "I apologize for not getting it all out."

"You did the best you could. I don't blame you," Damon said.

"Do you perhaps have a catheter you can use?" Elijah asked.

"No, not that I remember," Damon said. "Stefan?"

"I don't. What would I need one for?"

"Just asking. Besides, I'm not that desperate yet," Damon said, a bit embarrassed. He looked at Bonnie and said, "Let's do this locater spell."

Damon and Stefan had run out of local and state maps, so Damon drew a reasonable facsimile of the local region.

"That's pretty good," Caroline observed.

"Thanks. I guess I always had a talent for drawing, a talent I share with Stefan."

"We assumed it came from our mother who, in her human days, did sketching and a little painting," Stefan said. "Damon's ability to play the piano also came from her. She didn't pass that on to me. Now, I wonder if she remembers any of that."

Bonnie decided to use a few drops of her blood since she and Elena were somewhat tied together through Kai's spell. "This would be so much easier if my connection to Elena was on a different level and I could feel where she is."

"Do the best you can," Elijah said with encouragement.

 _A/N The mention of Kol and the boy witch is from my story "You Don't Know Me." The mention of Elijah taking Klaus to the hospital for an X-ray is from my story "Weakness." If you haven't read either one, you might find them interesting. As for this story, thank you to all who are reading it._


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 _A/N Sorry I am late posting this chapter. I have had trouble with my computer and could not get on the Internet. I think it is fixed now._

Bonnie used a clean knife from the kitchen and nicked one of her fingers. She let the blood drip onto the crude map as she intoned some words. The flames of the candles on the coffee table close to the paper flickered. To everyone's disappointment, the drops of blood spread out thinly over a whole section of the Mystic Falls map, including the house they were in.

"Well, either the spell didn't work or Elena is somewhere here in town," Damon said with a snort. "Maybe being moved around."

"Let us be optimistic and assume that she is still here somewhere," Elijah said. "We do not have to drive to the college or to Charlottesville. It appears to me that the blood diluted and was absorbed by the paper. Perhaps it is more concentrated in one area."

They all stared at the paper on the coffee table. The blood seemed evenly distributed, but it definitely had spread out farther than normal blood should have.

"Is it the magic or is my blood thinner than it should be?" Bonnie wondered aloud.

Damon's phone rang and he looked at the caller I.D. "The sheriff," he muttered and took the call. "What's up? Did you find anything?"

"Not Miss Gilbert. I just wanted you to know that two security cameras at the dorm caught a lot of the action outside the building. You. Mikaelson. Aaron Whitmore carrying a body over his shoulder and an assault weapon. All of you jumping out a second-story window. That sort of thing. The security cameras at the Whitmore mansion had been disabled."

"We didn't disable them. I suppose Aaron did," Damon said. "What are you going to do about the recordings?"

"I don't know yet. I'll let you know if there are any charges. You aren't leaving town, are you?"

"If I do, it probably won't be any farther away than the college or Charlottesville," Damon said. He ended the call and looked at the group that had been listening.

"The recordings should show that Aaron is a kidnapper and an armed and dangerous person," Elijah said. He carefully picked up the paper and held it under the nearest light. "I do not see any concentration of the blood."

"Let me sit and concentrate on Elena," Bonnie said. "Maybe I can narrow the field of search."

Everyone backed off to let Bonnie try to do as she hoped. The rest of the group went to the bar and poured themselves drinks.

"Did either of you get to speak to Aaron?" Caroline asked. "Did he give a reason for taking Elena?"

"He told me he did it to punish Damon," Elijah said after taking a sip of his drink.

Caroline was going to ask for more details, but there was a knock on the front door.

"Who the hell is that?" Damon snapped, frustrated and short-tempered. He went to the front door and opened it, half expecting to see a deputy. It was Enzo. Damon just stared at him in surprise and annoyance.

"I'd invite you in, but I can't. What are you doing here?" he finally asked.

"Curiosity got the best of me, mate. Had to come see what is going on," the handsome, dark-haired vampire said with a grin.

"Damon?" came a woman's voice and he turned to see Mrs. Flowers coming along the hall in a dark green velour bathrobe and slippers. It appeared she had run a comb through her whitish gray hair before coming from her room.

"We woke you. I hoped we wouldn't," Damon said. It was still a couple of hours before dawn.

"There's been a lot of activity and I'm a light sleeper."

"As long as you are up, can you invite Enzo in?"

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Please," Damon said, but he did have some reservations about it. He didn't entirely trust Enzo, wasn't sure whose side he was on.

"Come in, Enzo," the woman said politely. She now had five vampires in her house. She was capable of un-inviting any of them, if she used certain words, and then some supernatural force would make them leave. It would hurt them to be in a house they were uninvited to be in. She looked at her wrist watch and added, "I'm going to make coffee. If anyone wants any, come to the kitchen." She then padded silently down the hall.

Enzo followed Damon into the study where he was introduced to Elijah.

"Elijah Mikaelson. An Original! I'm impressed," the new fellow said, shaking Elijah's hand. "I know you and your family were living here in Mystic Falls for a while and then went to New Orleans."

"One of our former homes, yes," Elijah said, nodding slightly.

"Have you any news about Elena's whereabouts?" Damon asked Enzo.

"No. I came to see if you did."

"All we know is that she's somewhere here in town. So that means Aaron is also," Damon told him.

Bonnie spoke up. "You turned Aaron, Enzo. Do you have any mental connection to him? Where he might be? Any control over him?"

"I don't have any control. I haven't tried to contact him mentally. Or sense him," Enzo admitted. To Damon he added, "Are you going to be a proper host and offer me a drink?"

Damon gave him a hard look, but went to the bar. "What do you want?"

In a minute Enzo had his drink and perched on the arm of the couch by Caroline.

"What was Lily doing when you left her?" Stefan asked, thinking of his mother.

"Talking to her 'family.' I don't like that group. Call themselves the Heretics. They're weird and have some dangerous ideas," Enzo admitted. "But your mum seems to want me around."

"It's weird that she'd rather have you with her than me or Damon," Stefan said, frowning.

"She knows me and not you," Enzo pointed out.

"I still say it's weird. How can she forget children she gave birth to and raised?"

"I don't know, Stefan. It is what it is," Enzo said with a shrug. He didn't care what the woman remembered or not. Lily Salvatore had only recently met her real sons and knew only what they had told her about the past. She felt no ties to them, and her sons had come to realize that. Enzo, on the other hand, she had saved from death by making him a vampire and he was like a son to her, one she had not forgotten.

Bonnie began mumbling, grew silent, mumbled again. She nodded, mumbled, frowned, shook her head slightly.

"She's talking to someone," Stefan whispered. "Elena?"

Damon put a finger to his lips to signal silence and they all remained quiet, staring at Bonnie.

The pretty African-American had indeed made contact with Elena.

 _I don't understand what is going on,_ Elena said in a mental voice that reflected alarm.

 _It is Aaron Whitmore who has you,_ Bonnie explained.

 _Can't you and Damon come get me?_

 _Not yet. We don't know where you are. Can you tell anything about where you are?_

 _I'm cold. I think I'm in a car that is moving. You and I. We're going to a dance._

 _No, Elena. We aren't going to a dance. I am with you only in your mind. We are trying to locate you._

 _Going to a dance. I'll dance with Matt. He is such a cool boy, don't you think?_

 _He's great. But no dance tonight, Elena. Are you in the back seat of the car?_

 _I don't know. Yes, I am. With Charlie West. He's kissing me and feeling me up. Should I let him?_

 _No. Not tonight. Tell him to stop. Ask him where it is you are driving to in the car._

 _We're going to the dance._

 _Where?_

 _Dad's lab, I think. Charlie's carrying me in his arms. He is so strong. He plays football with Matt._

 _I know. So he's taking you to the dance down in your dad's lab?_

 _Yes. It's all decorated up with balloons and crepe paper draped here and there. Did you do the decorations?_

 _Yes,_ Bonnie lied.

 _I'm sleepy, Bonnie. I think I need to sleep for a while. I'll just lie here._

Bonnie's eyes flew open and that returned her to the study.

"Dr. Gilbert's lab! She thinks she is there, but she might be confused about that!"

"Alright. Good work," Damon said, encouraged. "We better take weapons this time."

There were appropriate weapons right there in the room, including a crossbow mounted over the fireplace. In a cabinet, there were wooden stakes, guns and wooden bullets. In a minute, Damon, Elijah, Stefan, Caroline and Enzo were armed.

Everyone rushed for the front door. A quick discussion decided who drove with whom in what car. Elijah and Bonnie got into the Chevy Camaro with Damon, while Caroline was with Stefan in the Porsche. Enzo considered using his own vehicle and following the others, but asked to go in Damon's car. He was curious to see how this adventure progressed.

Mrs. Flowers, who heard the hubbub and the front door close, came to the door of the study and found it empty. Except for Alaric snoring away upstairs, she was alone.

 _A/N Hope you found this chapter interesting. Aaron seems to be one step ahead of the good guys._


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As Damon drove, his irritated nerves plagued him. Driving with his right hand, he let his left scratch at the crotch of his jeans. He tried not to be conspicuous about it, since Elijah was sitting in the passenger seat and probably could see out of the corner of his eye what he was doing. Elijah didn't take his eyes off the road ahead.

Damon was also aware of Enzo sitting behind him in the back seat with Bonnie. Under the circumstances, Enzo's presence brought back memories of imprisonment and torture. For several years the Augustine doctors, including a Dr. Whitmore, had done experiments on the vampires, supposedly to find cures for diseases as well as studying what made vampires heal so amazingly. But there had been another side to the situation.

From time to time, special guests were invited to see special entertainment. At the time that Damon was a prisoner, Enzo and one or two other vampires were also there. So was one human after another, none of whom lasted very long. The so-called entertainment might be viewing some surgery, but more often than not, it was a sexual situation. The prisoners each had a separate cell, but two would be chosen to be put in the same cell. They were expected to perform some sexual act, as if they were in a pornography video. Often, the doctors would tell them ahead of time who would be paired with whom and what they were to do in front of the guests.

Initially, Damon had resisted this humiliation, but not for long. It was better than the torture and he hadn't had the strength to put up a fight. He had preferred being the dominant one in these get-togethers, but also had accepted being the submissive one. Because of these various performances, he and Enzo had come to know each other intimately. Memory of this now made him very aware of the other vampire sitting right behind him and he could almost feel him a whole lot closer. What if…?

They quickly came to the center of town, parked and cautiously approached the empty doctor's office. They did not see a car they could attribute to Aaron, although they didn't know what he was driving now. Both Damon and Stefan ran around at vampire speed and touched the hoods of those vehicles that were parked nearby, checking for warm engines, but all were cold.

Enzo, having no intention of going into the basement where he had been a prisoner, guarded the front door. Elijah, Bonnie and Caroline moved around to the back entrance where the plywood door was in place but not secure, since Damon had pulled the pins from the hinges. In a minute, Stefan joined Enzo out front, while Damon joined the others.

Bonnie stood concentrating at the back and finally spoke, "I don't think she's here."

"We still have to check," Damon insisted, although he could not smell any new scent.

In a moment, the door was open and the group entered the basement. Bonnie was right; no one was there. It was a great disappointment, especially to Damon.

"She described balloons and crepe paper streamers and a dance. Could that mean the high school gym?" Bonnie asked her companions. They agreed, left the basement, put the plywood back in place and went around to the front door where they joined Stefan and Enzo and reported their finding.

"We're going to check the high school," Damon said and they went to their vehicles.

"Damon, she might not be there either," Bonnie said as she got into the Camaro. "She sounded very confused. I think she was envisioning high school about four years ago."

"Regardless, she may be there," Damon insisted. "We can't not check."

"Of course. I don't think Aaron went to Mystic High. I don't recall him being there," Bonnie said. "He probably went to some private school." Whitmore College was on the boundary between Mystic county and an adjacent one. She knew he could also have gone to school in a different county.

Mystic Falls' high school and an adjacent middle school (once the junior high) were on the east side of downtown. The two vehicles drove to the street in front of the high school and saw that there was no car there. Damon drove around the block, looking, and finally spotted a car parked in a dark area next to the gymnasium.

"There was a dance here last night," Bonnie said. "The decorations could still be up." She remembered several times when she had been involved with decorating or helping serve refreshments. She had enjoyed dancing, especially with a couple of the boys she had really liked. She also remembered being stalked there by Klaus at one time and by Silas another time. Her last couple of years in high school had been fraught with danger, and she knew the troubles had started when Stefan had moved back to Mystic Falls and Damon had followed him. Added to that was her discovery that she was a witch like her mother and grandmother.

She had not even been able to graduate with her class because of being dead. She had been there in spirit and had watched her friends, those that were left, receive their diplomas. Because Mystic Falls was a magical place, in time, she had been given her life back. Now, a shudder ran through her, violent enough that Elijah asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Just bad memories," she said as Damon parked. "How do you do it, Elijah? Living all these years, suffering one horrible thing or another, and still trying to be optimistic?"

"It is best to tuck those memories away and not dwell on them. However, they do surface from time to time. I myself shudder to think of some of them. I am optimistic only to the extent that I know there will be some pleasant, positive times ahead. Eventually," said the man who seldom smiled and rarely laughed. The past often weighed heavily upon him.

Stefan and Caroline parked close to the front door of the school, but there were many exits Aaron could use. Enzo, who didn't know the school layout at all, hurried around to a side street to watch that area.

"We'll have to try different doors to see if we can get in," Damon said to his two companions. "I don't know how Aaron would get in unless he picks a lock or breaks a window. I'm sure there are security cameras here and there."

With each carrying a weapon Damon and Bonnie went to one door and Elijah went to another. In a minute, the Original found the one that was unlocked and he texted Damon. Mindful of the weapon Aaron likely still carried, Damon and Elijah entered the building. Bonnie hung back at the door, not wanting to be shot at. She didn't have the healing ability the two men had. There was little lighting in the vast place, although some light came from the red Exit signs.

"Smell him?" Damon murmured.

"Yes," Elijah agreed. "Her, too." The scents were weak, but the two vampires were used to it by now. Damon quickly texted Stefan that Aaron was in the gym somewhere.

"There's a light switch here by the door," Bonnie whispered. "Do you want it on?"

"Go ahead," Damon murmured. He was momentarily blinded when several bright lights came on from above.

They saw that the gym was still partly decorated from the dance. There were a few balloons in the air, but most of them, partly deflated, had settled on the floor. Long, colorful crepe paper streamers in the school colors were draped from the high metal catwalks on which lights for sports games were mounted.

When Damon looked up at the decorations, he spotted movement. "Someone is up there," he murmured to those standing close to him. They all looked upward.

"Spread out," Elijah told the others. This now included Stefan and Caroline, who had joined them at the entry and they all moved apart, fearing a blast of gunfire.

"Stay together!" came a voice from above. The people on the floor stopped moving.

"Aaron," Damon sang out, moving slowly out to the middle of the hardwood floor marked for basketball games. "Is that you up there? You still got Elena?" He wondered if he had the strength now to leap up to the catwalk above him. He probably did, but should he?

"You want her, you come get her," came the voice from a different catwalk. The area up there was not lighted like down on the floor.

"What is the point of all this, Aaron?" Damon asked, unable to see the younger vampire because of the glare of the lights shining directly down at him. He worried that the young vampire would drop Elena's body down to the floor, and he feared she didn't have the healing ability she had had as a vampire. Had Kai's spell included healing? It must have to some extent because she didn't have the bruises and small wounds she had initially sustained at the time of the explosion. But what about broken bones?

"You need to be punished for what you did to me and to my family! You're a murderer!"

"I'm a vampire. I kill. You're a vampire now and you have killed innocent people," Damon said as he moved slowly to a different location. He was finally able to see Aaron. A chill ran through him as he saw that Aaron was holding Elena up against his front as a shield.

"You hunted down my relatives specifically! That's different."

"They did really bad things."

"Not all of them. Just a few."

"The others let it happen. It's in the past now, Aaron. Give up Elena and I'll stop coming after you. You can get out of town. Go somewhere where they don't know you and what you are."

"Oh yeah. Sure. You said I could leave safely and then you killed me. I'm not fool enough to believe you again. Especially since all of you are armed. I think I'm not going to get out of here alive."

"You can leave if you hand over Elena. And I don't mean drop her down from up there."

There was a pause, as if Aaron was contemplating his next move.

"Why'd you come here, Aaron? You could have driven away. Why would you come _here_ where you could be trapped? How the hell do you think you can escape?"

"Maybe I don't want to escape."

"What do you mean?"

"I hate being a vampire! Yes, I agreed to it when Enzo told me you were going to kill me if you could. But now I know I would rather be dead than doing what I'm doing."

"If you hate it so much, all you have to do is take off whatever protection you've got and step out into the sunlight. Poof! You'll be gone."

"I don't want to burn to death!"

"It's fast."

"Not fast enough! And the idea makes me sick."

"If you want me to kill you quickly, why have you been running around all over the place, dragging Elena's body with you, evading us at every turn?"

"Isn't that obvious? It's to punish _you,_ Damon! Guess what. I had sex with her. You like that?"

"I don't think you did," Damon said, although he wasn't sure and the idea infuriated him.

"Oh? Why not?"

"I don't think you're the type to molest a basically dead body. Are you, Aaron? Have you sunk that low?"

Again, Aaron didn't answer.

Damon stared up at his opponent and wondered why he hadn't fired the assault rifle. Was he out of ammunition? Or was it that he needed both hands to keep Elena's body shielding his own. If he wanted to die, as he apparently did, why shield himself at all?

Although Elijah, Stefan and Caroline had not moved since Aaron's order, they were actually in positions from which they could likely shoot Aaron with their weapons. The problem was that the slender Aaron was hardly taller than Elena and thus he was mostly hidden, except from behind. And if he were shot from behind, he would surely drop his hostage.

"What do we do now?" Damon called up to the young man. "If you want one of us to kill you quickly, we certainly will oblige you. But first put Elena down on the catwalk so she won't fall."

"Just shooting me won't kill me unless you get me in the heart, vervained bullets or not. Isn't that right?"

"True. You've shot me with wooden, vervained bullets and I'm still here. Put Elena down and one of us will come up there and do it right. It'll be all over in moments."

There was silence again.

"What do you want done with your remains, Aaron? Burial? Cremation?" Damon knew he wanted to take Whitmore body out into sunlight and let it burn up. In fact, if he had his way, he'd take him alive out into the sun and let him burn up.

"Burial. Beside my parents," Aaron finally said. "Someone come up here. One person."

"I'm here, mate," came a voice right behind him. It was Enzo. No one down on the floor had seen him enter and zip up to the catwalks, but they could see him now as he emerged from the shadows. "How about you lay the girl's body down real gentle-like."

"So, it's going to be you, huh? That's okay, Enzo," Aaron said calmly. "You made me; you undo what you did. It's what I want."

"I will, but put her down first."

"Alright. Damon, you want her?"

"Yes."

"Then you catch her." In a blur he turned slightly so that the body was part way over the low rail of the catwalk and he let go. Elena's body sort of cartwheeled downward as Enzo drove a wooden stake into the left side of Aaron's back and into his heart. Death came to the last of the Whitmores quite quickly and his somewhat-shriveled body sank down to the metal catwalk.

Damon dropped his weapon and sprang upward to catch Elena's body as it plummeted toward the floor. He caught it, but very awkwardly. The weight slammed him to the floor with the body on top of him. He managed to keep Elena's face from being smashed on the hardwood, but he had no way yet of knowing what other bone fractures might have occurred.

In addition, he also felt a sharp pain in his back. Like a bolt of lightning, it shot down through his pelvis and his left leg. He reasoned that the piece of bullet irritating his spinal nerves had moved and he hoped that it had made a move away from the nerves. Had the pressure of the body landing on him ruptured his full bladder? he wondered. To confuse the issue, he felt a dampness spreading on his jeans. Was it urine from his own bladder or from that of Elena?

Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie ran to Damon and they carefully lifted Elena from on top of Damon and laid her on the floor on her back. Elijah leaped up to the catwalk to join Enzo checking on Aaron.

With Elena's weight off him, Damon could tell that the urine was his own. He was no longer in urinary retention, but he also could not stop the flow. He got up, turned his back on Bonnie and unzipped. There was not sense in letting all the urine soak him right down into his boots, so he peed onto the glossy gym floor, already scarred from the dance. Someone with the school was going to be upset about the large puddle, but Damon didn't care. He was just happy to get relief, not only from the full bladder, but from the nerve tingling he had had. It was gone.

And of course, he now had Elena safe. He turned his head and saw the others moving her body away from the yellow liquid that was splashing and spreading on the floor. He also saw Elijah and Enzo dropping silently down to the floor, Aaron's body with a stake in the back slung over Enzo's shoulder. So, that was over, too.

In a few minutes, everyone moved outside. They turned off the lights and left the gymnasium in darkness.

"There's a blanket in the trunk of my car," Damon said to Elijah as they walked to the Chevy, and he handed the keys to him. "Put it on the back seat."

Stefan was carrying Elena's body and asked, "How do you want to do this?"

"I'll sit in back on the blanket and hold her. Elijah can drive."

"What about Aaron?" Caroline asked.

"In the trunk."

Elijah retrieved the blanket and Enzo placed Aaron's body in the Chevy's big trunk. With the blanket doubled on the back seat, Damon got in and Stefan handed him Elena's body. He lovingly cradled it, very relieved to have her safe from further harm. He pressed his lips to her cold cheek and tried to ignore the scent of Aaron on her.

Enzo sat in the front passenger seat, while Bonnie squeezed into the back seat with Damon and Elena. Elijah got behind the wheel. Stefan and Caroline returned to the Porsche.

They all returned to the Salvatore house where Damon carried Elena up to the room she used and laid her on the bed. Bonnie, Caroline and Mrs. Flowers said they would take care of her by washing her body and putting clean clothes on her. Elena definitely needed some care for her messy clothes, snarled hair and blotches of dirt on her skin.

Damon left the room and went to his own, where he showered and put on clean clothes. He was pleased that the annoying tingling and other unwanted feelings were gone. He then went downstairs where Stefan, Elijah and Enzo were sitting around drinking.

"Well, you're looking more presentable, mate," Enzo said. "And you smell better, too."

"I feel a whole lot better. Apparently that piece of bullet shifted when I fell on my back and the symptoms I felt are gone," he told the men as he poured himself a drink.

"A considerable relief, I am sure," Elijah said.

Mrs. Flowers came to the door of the study in a few minutes and asked if the group would like to have breakfast in a while and they said they would. Dawn was beginning to brighten the sky, reminding them that a new day had come.

When Bonnie and Caroline came downstairs, they reported that they had Elena all cleaned up and dressed again. They also told Damon that they had examined her body and saw no signs that Aaron had sexually molested her.

Damon remembered to phone the sheriff to tell him that Elena's body had been rescued. He also said that Aaron was dead and suggested that that fact might be kept from the media if possible. The town of Mystic Falls didn't like to advertise that it had vampires running loose and Whitmore college certainly didn't want it known that the last remaining Whitmore had died a vampire/body snatcher.

Damon decided that he would bury Aaron's body in Mystic Falls' old cemetery by the old church's ruins when night came again. None of the Whitmores were buried there, but he didn't care. He didn't feel bound by Aaron's request to be buried with his family.

After a nice breakfast, the group returned Elena's body to her coffin in the Salvatore mausoleum, also in the old cemetery. Elijah stood beside Damon as they stared down at the young woman's pretty face. Apparently, Kai's spell did allow healing, for a couple of marks on the pale skin had disappeared.

"Damon, it is likely that she will lie here for a long time," the Original said. "I know you love her and grieve for what has happened, but you must go on with your life. It is the way of the vampire."

"I know. Wouldn't it be ironic if in that time I died before Bonnie did?"

"Yes."

"I also don't like it that my life depends on Klaus' living."

"I shall try not to kill him."

"Thanks," Damon said and he saw a small smile touch Elijah's lips.

"I shall leave today to return to New Orleans."

"What about your rented car? The seats are ruined with our blood."

"I'll think of something to tell the car rental people. Their insurance should pay for seat replacement."

Damon reached out and stroked Elena's pale forehead. He leaned down and kissed her lips. "I love you," he whispered. When he straightened up, he turned toward the door of the mausoleum. "Let's go, Elijah. I need a drink."

 _A/N This is the end of the story. I wanted to finish it before the new season starts. I am looking forward to Thursday when both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals start again. I hope you all liked having the Mystic Falls gang, Elijah and Enzo all together in their pursuit of Aaron._


End file.
